Woodford Patient Capital Trust, an £800m ($1.2bn) fund aimed at university spinouts and technology startups, is set to issue 80 million new shares, The Telegraph reported yesterday.
The trust has been trading for three months, and has already invested three quarters of the cash raised from its flotation. It had originally hoped to raise £200m, but increased that amount first to £500m and then £800m.
The decision to issue more shares has led to a 3% drop in value, however the trust has revealed it will release the new shares gradually and at a premium to avoid new stakeholders getting a better deal by harming existing backers.
The trust was set up by investor Neil Woodford and has several ties to Imperial College London’s tech transfer office Imperial Innovations.
The board is chaired by Imperial Innovation’s former chief executive Susan Searle, while two other non-executive directors are the respective chief executives of Imperial spinouts Nexeon, a battery developer headed by Scott Brown, and Circassia, a biotechnology company headed by Stephen Harris.
Neil Woodford said: “Although it is very early days, we are pleased that the company’s net asset value has moved forward modestly. Much of the positive performance to date has been delivered by holdings we would classify as early-stage.
“Indeed, our blue-chip holdings have typically detracted from performance thus far, with GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca in particular showing short-term share price weakness.”
