Former Neil Woodford biotech company Oxford Nanopore has raised £84.4m in a positive move for his former investment trust that is now being managed by Schroders.
In a press release, Oxford Nanopore said the latest injection of capital will be used to accelerate its commercial and manufacturing operations and support innovation in nanopore technology. International Holdings Company (IHC) and RPMI Railpen are among the new investors that have been brought on board in the latest funding round.
The company is currently scaling up its Covid-19 test, Lampore, which has received regulatory approval in the UK with further approval being pursued in the US and UAE.
The latest fundraising round will be welcomed by the Schroder UK Public Private investment trust where Oxford Nanopore is the third-largest holding with a 13.1% weighting. Portfolio Adviser has contacted Schroders to see if it participated in the latest fundraising round.
But investors trapped in the LF Equity Income fund will see no benefit with the former Woodford Equity Income fund selling off its stake in the unquoted company to Acacia Research, which snagged 19 stocks at the discounted price of £223.9m in June. In March, the company had represented a 4.4% weighting in the portfolio, according to the fund’s annual report for 2020.
In the year to date, Oxford Nanopore has now raised £162.1m, although the latest round is the largest, with £29.3m raised in January and £48.4m raised in May.
Following the capital raise, IP Group, another former Woodford holding, has a 15% undiluted beneficial stake in Oxford Nanopore. Woodford sold the 13.4% stake in its entirety in September 2019 in the weeks before he was dumped from the Woodford Equity Income fund by authorised corporate director Link Fund Solutions.
Shares in IP Group rose 6.25% on Tuesday and now trade at 85p. Woodford reportedly offloaded his shares at a discounted price of 53.5p raising around £76m for his troubled fund.
While LF Equity Income investors are no longer exposed to the company, Crux UK Special Situations has a 3.4% stake, according to FE Fundinfo.
See also: Link accused of letting further middleman chip into Woodford investor savings
