Mercia Technologies PLC £6.5m syndicated investment into Oxford Genetics (2475U)

TIDMMERC

RNS Number : 2475U

Mercia Technologies PLC

28 March 2019

 
 RNS              28 March 2019 
 

Mercia Technologies PLC

("Mercia")

Mercia invests GBP0.4million as part of a GBP6.5million syndicated investment into Oxford Genetics

Mercia Technologies PLC (AIM: MERC), the national investment group focused on the identification, creation, funding and scaling of innovative technology businesses with high-growth potential from the UK regions, is pleased to announce that its portfolio company, Oxford Genetics Limited ("Oxford Genetics"), has received GBP6.5million of new investment in a syndicated round comprising Canaccord Genuity Limited ("Canaccord") (formerly Hargreave Hale), Invesco Asset Management Limited ("Invesco") and Mercia. Mercia invested GBP0.4million as part of the new funding round which now values Oxford Genetics at an undiluted, post-money valuation of GBP30.5million.

Today's announcement, which results in Mercia's direct equity stake reducing to 33.3% (from 40.5%), follows the RNS Reach issued on 28 February 2019 confirming six new licensing deals, further highlighting the considerable commercial progress that Oxford Genetics is making in the rapidly expanding biotechnology sector.

Oxford Genetics operates in the synthetic biology market providing world leading technologies and advanced techniques for drug and gene therapy development. The world's first biologic, insulin, was brought to the market in the early 1980s and today approximately 20% of all treatments are biologics, with over a quarter of new therapeutics approved in the US in 2017 being biologics. This demonstrates the highly progressive nature of this expanding sector.

Grown from the foundations of patented DNA engineering methods, and with 10 patent families covering its diverse technology portfolio, Oxford Genetics now offers a suite of novel solutions for gene therapy drug discovery, antibody therapy development and CRISPR gene editing.

Ryan Cawood, Founder and CEO of Oxford Genetics, said: "This significant investment round will enable Oxford Genetics to further secure its market-leading position in the expanding fields of CRISPR, gene therapy and antibody engineering. Through our continued investment in automation and optimising our commercialisation strategy, we aim to maximise shareholder value and exceed our ambitious growth targets.

Throughout our journey, Mercia's investment model has been pivotal to Oxford Genetics' current success. The ability to leverage capital and continued support from Mercia via seed stage through to later investment rounds has enabled us to attract excellent syndicate investors onto our share register. We are excited to welcome Canaccord Genuity onto our share register alongside Invesco Asset Management and look forward to working with all of our investors to grow the business over the coming years."

Dr Mark Payton, Chief Executive Officer of Mercia Technologies and a non-executive director of Oxford Genetics, said: "We have backed Oxford Genetics since day one, working closely with Ryan who has built both an impressive team and a highly scalable business model. Full year revenue to April 2019 is set to achieve c.300% growth on last year and the additional investment announced today will continue to facilitate this growth, as Oxford Genetics moves from an important domestic business to a global player in this specialist field of biotech."

Ends

For further information, please contact:

 
 Mercia Technologies PLC                  [phone] 
 Mark Payton, Chief Executive Officer 
 Martin Glanfield, Chief Financial 
  Officer 
 www.merciatech.co.uk 
 
 Canaccord Genuity Limited                [phone] 
 Simon Bridges, Emma Gabriel (NOMAD 
  and Broker) 
 
 Buchanan                                 [phone] 
 Bobby Morse, Chris Lane, Vicky Hayns, 
  Stephanie Watson 
 www.buchanan.uk.com 
 

About Mercia Technologies PLC

Mercia is a national investment group focused on the funding and scaling of innovative technology businesses with high growth potential from the UK regions. The Group benefits from 19 university partnerships and offices across the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland providing it with access to high quality, regional deal flow. Mercia Technologies PLC is quoted on AIM with the epic "MERC".

Mercia's 'Complete Capital Solution' initially nurtures businesses via its third-party funds and then over time Mercia can provide further funding to the most promising companies, by deploying direct investment follow-on capital from its own balance sheet. Mercia has c.GBP500million of assets under management and, since its IPO in December 2014, has invested over GBP74million across its direct investment portfolio.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact [e-mail] or visit www.rns.com.

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March 28, 2019 03:01 ET (07:01 GMT)