The UK-based Oxford Nanopore is moving ahead with a secret £1.6 billion private fundraising.
Earlier this year, the biotech company told investors it planned to list on the stock market in a move that would have thrown Neil Woodford a lifeline, given his problems with illiquid holdings.
Woodford is the firm’s early backer. The latest fundraising could allow Woodford’s stake to be sold, The Sunday Times reported.
The Oxford University spinout firm recorded revenues of £32.5 million in 2018, whereas losses moved down from £56.5m in 2017 to £53.1m.
The company is a gene analysis unicorn formed in 2005 and is understood to be courting investors.
The company obtained £50m a year ago from American biotechnology giant Amgen, valuing it at £1.5bn.
The company had raised £100m last year from Singapore’s GIC, China Construction Bank and Australia’s Hostplus.
London-listed IP Group, Neil Woodford and Invesco were early investors in the company.
The business led by Gordon Sanghera as chief executive uses technology that focuses on electrically charged nanopores - tiny holes inside protein molecules.
Its machines pull strands of DNA through these nanopores, allowing it to read the sequence.
