VC firms sell Prexton to Lundbeck for up to €905m

Lundbeck will make an initial payment of €100m to Prexton's current investors and will then be required to pay up to €805m upon hitting development, regulatory and sales milestones.

VC firms Sunstone Capital, Ysios Capital Partners, Forbion Capital Partners and Seroba Life Sciences all previously invested in Prexton, as did corporate venture player Merck Serono Ventures.

Sunstone and Ysios co-led an €8.7m series-A for Prexton in February 2015 alongside Merck Serono.

Forbion and Seroba joined to co-lead a €29m series-B with participation from all existing investors in February 2017.

Seroba made the divestment from its latest fund, Seroba Life Sciences III, which held a first close on €100m in February 2017. Forbion backed the company through its latest fund, Forbion Capital Fund III, a €183m healthcare specific VC fund. Forbion was the largest shareholder in Prexton prior to the sale.

Forbion general partner Marco Boorsma said: "We followed the company since 2012 but did not enter serious due diligence until just before the series-B round that closed in February 2017. Forbion was invited to consider the investment by the company's existing investors."

Boorsma took a seat on Prexton's board, but managing partner Geert-Jan Mulder also took a hands-on role during the holding period. "Forbion generally only takes one board seat on its portfolio companies, but they get the support of the whole team, whether it is Forbion's clinical, deal-structuring or scientific expertise," Boorsma said.

The sale was initiated by approaches soon after the series-B was closed, Boormsa said: "The sale process, which was triggered by unsolicited interest from several parties, finally resulted in the acquisition of Lundbeck."

In total, Prexton raised €38.7m from two funding rounds, so even accounting for a slightly higher post-money valuation and liquidation preference for the founders, the company's investors are due to generate a strong return.

Boorsma said: "The upfront payment generated a very healthy IRR for us as the largest shareholder prior to the sale." However, this could be set to rise considerably once milestones are reached and data from the phase-II clinical program for Parkinsons drug Foliglurax is expected to be available in mid-2019.

Company
Founded in 2012 and based in Geneva, Prexton is a biopharmaceutical business that develops a treatment named Foliglurax, which integrates molecular, behavioural and chemistry technologies to address Parkinson's disease and other brain disorders.

People
Forbion Capital Partners – Marco Boorsma (partner); Geert-Jan Mulder (managing partner).
Seroba Life Sciences – Alan O'Connell (partner).
Prexton Therapeutics – Francois Conquet (founder, CEO).

Advisers
Company – Guggenheim Securities (corporate finance); Dechert (legal).

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• Topics
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• Trade sale
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• Ysios Capital
• Sunstone Capital A/S