US pharmaceuticals group Verseon begins road show for Aim listing
CALIFORNIA-BASED pharmaceuticals group Verseon is working towards a £230m stock market listing in London.
According to Sky News, the company, which uses proprietary technology to assist in the drug discovery process, has appointed Cenkos, the investment bank, to prepare it for a listing on the juior Aim market.
Sky reported that Cenkos has recently begun a roadshow of prospective investors and is talking to institutions including Woodford Investment Management, which was founded last year by well-known investor Neil Woodford.
Woodford has been a major backer of drugs companies and was a vocal presence during last year’s cancelled £60bn takeover battle between Britain’s AstraZeneca and US giant Pfizer.
Although it is understood that Verseon is yet to break even since being set up in 2002, it is expected to seek to raise roughly $75m (£50m) in a float next year.
The company, set up by Adityo Prakash and Eniko Fodor, focuses on the areas of blood coagulation; diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular oedema, and oncology.
Liquidity provided by quantitative easing programmes in Europe and the US would help the company’s potential listing. It would also be aided by intense interest in the biotech sector, which has seen the highest level of dealmaking in the last year since before the 2008 crisis.