Vaccitech, which developed the technology underlying Oxford’s covid vaccine, has priced its shares and will raise more than $110m in its IPO.
Vaccitech, a UK-based vaccine developer spun out of University of Oxford, priced its shares at $17 yesterday and will raise more than $110m when it begins trading on the Nasdaq Global Market today.
The spinout will issue 6.5 million American Depositary Shares (ADSs), representing the same number of ordinary shares. It will trade using the ticker symbol VACC.
Founded in 2016, Vaccitech initially aimed to develop a universal flu vaccine but the technology’s arguably most fundamental impact to date has been the creation of the covid-19 vaccine now deployed by pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.
Vaccitech’s pipeline now features assets targeting chronic hepatitis B infection, persistent, high-risk human papillomavirus infection and prostate cancer.
Proceeds will support the clinical development of each of the three aforementioned candidates, as well as help advance potential treatments for non-small cell lung cancer, and vaccines for shingles and Middle East respiratory syndrome (commonly referred to as Mers).
Money will also be put towards further platform development.
Vaccitech closed a $168m series B round in March this year backed by university venture fund Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI) and Future Planet Capital, a venture capital firm focused on university startups and spinouts.
M&G Investment Management, a division of impact investment manager M&G, led the round, which also included internet group Tencent, biopharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences, Monaco Constitutional Reserve Fund and unnamed new and existing backers.
Vaccitech secured $33.9m in a series A round co-led by OSI, conglomerate Alphabet’s early-stage investment arm GV and Sequoia China in 2018. The round also attracted Neptune Ventures. The round had been reported as $27.1m at the time, but Vaccitech disclosed the updated figure in its prospectus.
OSI had already taken part in a $14.5m seed round in 2016, when Invesco, Landsdowne and Woodford Investment Management also participated.
OSI is the largest shareholder ahead of the offering, with a 29.5% stake, which will be diluted to 23.9%. Other notable shareholders include M&G, through Prudential Credit Opportunities (10.4% post-IPO), followed by GV (5%), Tencent (4.2%) and Sequoia Capital China (4.1%).
Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, Barclays and William Blair are acting as book-runners for the offering, while HC Wainwright is serving as lead manager. The underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 975,000 ADSs.
