Last close As at 05/08/2026
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Market capitalisation
GBP607m
Research: TMT
IP Group’s largest life sciences holding at end-2023, Oxford Nanopore (ONT), which developed a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology, announced earlier today that it has successfully completed an issue of 66.7m ordinary shares (c 7.6% of its issued capital), raising £80m of gross proceeds (upsized from the initial £75m as the issue was multiple times oversubscribed). This includes a £50m strategic investment by Novo Holdings (the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk and Novozymes), with the remaining proceeds coming from institutional investors. As per the announcement, Novo Holdings currently intends (subject to availability and price, among others) to purchase another £10m worth of ONT shares over time in the market.
IP Group |
Novo Holdings invests in Oxford Nanopore |
Company update |
Investment companies/TMT Listed venture capital |
1 August 2024 |
Share price performance
Business description
Analysts
IP Group is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
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IP Group’s largest life sciences holding at end-2023, Oxford Nanopore (ONT), which developed a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology, announced earlier today that it has successfully completed an issue of 66.7m ordinary shares (c 7.6% of its issued capital), raising £80m of gross proceeds (upsized from the initial £75m as the issue was multiple times oversubscribed). This includes a £50m strategic investment by Novo Holdings (the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk and Novozymes), with the remaining proceeds coming from institutional investors. As per the announcement, Novo Holdings currently intends (subject to availability and price, among others) to purchase another £10m worth of ONT shares over time in the market.
Period end |
Net cash* |
Portfolio fair value** (£m) |
NAV |
NAV/share |
Price/NAV |
06/22 |
191.6 |
1,266 |
1,414 |
136.7 |
(49) |
12/22 |
160.1 |
1,259 |
1,376 |
132.9 |
(58) |
06/23 |
111.7 |
1,276 |
1,314 |
126.7 |
(55) |
12/23 |
91.7 |
1,165 |
1,190 |
114.8 |
(49) |
Note: *Includes restricted cash but not funds held on behalf of Enterprise Investment Scheme/venture capital trust investors. **Portfolio fair value includes US platform and other LP interests. ***Based on share price at respective period ends.
ONT’s CEO highlighted that the strategic investment from Novo Holdings reflects ONT’s ambition in the biopharmaceutical sector, while Dr Daniel Mahony (senior partner, growth investments at Novo Holdings) said that it illustrates Novo Holdings’ confidence in ONT’s long-term value proposition based on a comprehensive due diligence within the biopharma community and an analysis of ONT’s intellectual property portfolio. The net proceeds from the issue will be used for general corporate purposes.
ONT reiterated its guidance for 2024 and the medium term, and it continues to target an adjusted EBITDA break-even in 2027 and cash flow break-even in 2028. The company expects 20–30% underlying life sciences research tools (LSRT) revenue growth in FY24 on a constant currency basis at a gross margin of c 57% (vs 53.3% in FY23 and 56.3% in FY22). It also aims for a medium-term (ie FY27) growth rate of more than 30% per year on a constant currency basis, and an LSRT gross margin of more than 62% by FY27.
IP Group was ONT’s founding shareholder in 2005. ONT successfully completed its IPO in September 2021, allowing IP Group to realise £84.1m in cash on its investment by selling around one-fifth of its stake. Together with a minor partial realisation in 2020, this brought IP Group’s total partial realisation from ONT to £106m, already more than its total investment of £77m. IP Group held a c 9.54% stake in ONT before the share issue (based on Bloomberg data). At a price of 120p it would be valued at c £100m (or c 9% of IP Group’s total portfolio fair value at end-December 2023) and together with the above-mentioned partial realisation would translate into a multiple on invested capital of c 2.7x (of which 1.4x is realised). IP Group disclosed that, following the admission of ONT’s new shares, it will have an undiluted beneficial holding of 8.9% in ONT (and manages an additional 1.3% through its managed funds).
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Research: Financials
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