State-backed Malin sees value of investments increase

Darragh Lyons

Ellie Donnelly Twitter Email

March 23 2021 07:53 AM

State-backed life sciences investment firm Malin has said the fair value estimate of its investee companies increases to €412m at 31 December 2020, from €365.8m at the end of 2019.

Since the beginning of this year values have increased further to €449m, according to a statement from the group.

The latest increase in value has been mainly driven by a higher fair value estimate for Immunocore, following the company’s initial public offering in February. Immunocore is a cancer treatment biotech.

Also, among Malin’s recent highlights has been the sale of Kymab to pharmaceutical giant Sanofi for consideration of up to $1.45bn. The transaction will deliver initial net proceeds to Malin of approximately $112m, with the potential to receive up to a further $33m on the achievement of certain milestones.

Malin’s estimated intrinsic equity value per share at 31 December 2020 was €8.48, increasing to €9.32 per share at 19 March this year.

Darragh Lyons, CEO of Malin, said: “The focus of our business strategy over the past few years has been to protect and enhance the value of our holdings in our investee companies, insofar as possible, while these businesses worked towards reaching important clinical and operational milestones.”

He added that Malin’s companies “started to successfully deliver these crucial milestones during 2020, which we believe can catalyse investment realisation opportunities for Malin as these companies reach optimal value inflection points. The agreed sale of Kymab to Sanofi for consideration of up to $1.45bn, announced in January 2021, demonstrates this.”

Once Malin receives the $112m from the sale of Kymab it will repay the full amount of its outstanding debt with the European Investment Bank of €45m and initiate capital returns to shareholders, Mr Lyons said.

The Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) owns a 10.88pc stake in Malin after backing the company with a €50m investment in its own €330m IPO in 2015.

In December Mr Lyons told shareholders that the company would be looking to realise "significant cash" from positions that had reached "value inflection points" in 2021.