Biotech investor Arix Bioscience PLC (LON:ARIX) has agreed to invest another £3.8mln (US$5.0mln) in Autolus Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ:AUTL).
The share purchase will keep Arix’s stake in Autolus at 7.6%, which is valued at £62.6mln.
READ: Arix Bioscience confirms Autolus to launch proposed public offering
In total, Autolus is raising US$100.8mln from investors through the issue of 4.2mln American Depositary Shares (ADS) at US$24.00 apiece.
“Our investment in Autolus today demonstrates our strategy to build world-leading biotech companies through the provision of flexible, long term capital,” said chief executive Joe Anderson.
“We believe Autolus is at the forefront of a revolution in cancer treatment and that its innovative approach to T-cell programming has the potential to offer life-changing therapies for patients.”
Arix backing its winners
“Arix first invested £10mln into Autolus's Series B round in March 2016,” noted analysts at US investment bank Stifel.
“Subsequent financing rounds, the Nasdaq IPO in June 2018 and now this latest equity offering, means Arix has invested £24.6mln so far into Autolus.
“That investment is now valued at £62.6m generating a decent return so far, but with the market effectively discounting the shares during the offering (shares sold at US$24 per ADS vs US$31 per ADS before the offer was announced), we would expect the shares to recover and provide greater value uplift for Arix.”
Arix shares were down 1.3% to 144.1p on Thursday morning.
--Adds analyst comment--