Woodford braces for BenevolentAI valuation cut

Beleaguered fund manager Woodford Investment Management is to suffer a 50% reduction in the value of its stake in UK-based automated drug discovery technology developer BenevolentAI, the Times reported yesterday.
BenevolentAI is reportedly seeking capital from Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek at a $1bn valuation, down from about $2bn following its $115m round in April 2019.
The Times claims Woodford and other early investors supplied about 80% of the cash raised on that occasion. Neither BenevolentAI nor Woodford Investment Management responded to its request for comment.
Founded in 2013, BenevolentAI exploits artificial intelligence-based technology to identify drug molecules as the basis for treating intractable diseases such as motor neuron disease, glioblastoma and sarcopenia. The fresh capital will reportedly be used to enhance Benevolent’s core technology.
BenevolentAI stocks represented 4.5% of Woodford Investment’s Equity Income vehicle and 8.4% of its Patient Capital Trust at the end of April 2019, the Times said.
Equity Income’s outlay is being wound back having been suspended in June 2019 in response to concerns plummeting investor interest had rendered it unable to satisfy redemptions.
Patient Capital Trust meanwhile was removed from the FTSE 250 index earlier in September 2019. The vehicle recently announced a $0.05 per share value reduction for one of its shareholdings – now believed to be BenevolentAI – that in effect shrank its market cap by $44.8m, the Times said.
Woodford Investment Management was the only investor officially named in BenevolentAI’s aforementioned $115m round, which came in the wake of about $100m of capital raised as of September 2016, according to Fierce Biotech.
BenevolentAI’s other backers may include pharmaceutical firms Lundbeck and Upsher-Smith Laboratories in addition to investment management partnership Lansdowne Partners, although there has not been an official announcement.