VC-backed arGEN-X raises €40m in IPO

The biotech sold 4.7 million new shares at a price of 850 cents each. An overallotment option of a further 470,589 new shares – equivalent to an additional €4m – has been granted.

arGEN-X will list its stock on the Euronext Brussels tomorrow (10 July) under the ticker "ARGX". KBC Securities and Kempen & Co acted as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the flotation, while Petercam was appointed co-lead manager.

Certain existing shareholders of arGEN-X purchased €7.2m of new shares in the offer. The biotech is backed by a large syndicate of venture capital firms, comprising PMV, Omnes Capital, Forbion Capital Partners, BioGeneration Ventures, the Erasmus Biomedical Fund, Thuja Capital, OrbiMed Advisors, Seventure Partners, Life Sciences Partners (LSP) and VIB.

Prior to the IPO, Forbion was the biotech's biggest shareholder with a 17.4% stake (as of December 2013). Omnes held a 16.8% stake while Orbimed and LSP owned 14.2% and 14.1% respectively. Seventure and PMV owned 8% each, while Erasmus and Thuja held 6.7% each. The company's founders owned a 4% shareholding, with the remainder held by Biogeneration.

arGEN-X plans on using the proceeds to accelerate clinical development of its ARGX-110, ARGX-111 and ARGX-113 therapeutic antibody candidates. The company hopes to soon produce clinical data for the candidates that demonstrates their efficacy for treating cancer and severe autoimmune diseases.

Previous funding
arGEN-X most recently secured a €5m investment from PMV as an extension of its series-B round, which took place in December 2011 and was led by OrbiMed and Seventure.

The first part of the series-B saw all of the company's backers (aside from PMV) invest €27.5m in the company.

Prior to its two-part series-B, arGEN-X raised a total of €12.5m in a two-part series-A round. In September 2009, the company secured €9.5m from Forbion, LSP, KBC Private Equity, BioGeneration, Erasmus and Thuja. Forbion and LSP led the round.

The following April, arGEN-X received a further €3m in an extension of its series-A from Omnes and VIB.

Company
Founded in 2008, arGEN-X is headquartered in Breda with an additional office in Ghent, Belgium. The company develops human therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of diseases, including cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and atopic dermatitis. Its most advanced product is currently ARGX-110.

arGEN-X generated €2.7m in revenues last year, a significant increase on the €1.65m recorded in 2012.

People
Tim Van Hauwermeiren is the CEO of arGEN-X. The company's supervisory board includes OrbiMed founding partner Michael Sheffery, Thuja managing director and founder Harrold van Barlingen, Omnes life sciences director Bruno Montanari, LSP partner John de Koning and Forbion partner Christina Takke.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Benelux
• Healthcare
• IPO
• Netherlands
• Omnes Capital
• Seventure (SPEF)
• Life Science Partners