VC firms exit Activaero in trade sale

Vectura has confirmed that the terms of the acquisition will see €95m going to the vendors on deal completion, with a further €35m in deferred cash consideration payable on 1 Aug 2015. The €95m will be divided into €45m payable in cash and €50m payable in new Vectura ordinary shares.

The 25,641,398 shares will be issued to the vendors of Activaero at completion at a price of 160.9p per share and are subject to a 12-month lock-up period, followed by a six-month period where any share trading must be completed through Vectura's brokers.

Additionally, the VC backers may also be in line for payments of up to €6m for future transactions regarding Activaero's technology.

Vectura expects to see double-digit returns on its investment, as well as savings of almost €1.5m by consolidating the two head offices and cutting administration costs. The company will also see its therapeutic offering extending into nebuliser-based technology. It estimates that the market for the treatment of airways-related diseases is worth in excess of $46bn worldwide.

Previous funding
Activaero completed a €10.7m series-A funding round in October 2009, in which Swiss VC BioMed Partners, which invested via its BioMedInvest II fund, was joined by Luxembourg-based VC Vesalius Biocapital and Swiss VC VI Partners, which invested from its Venture Incubator fund. Swiss holding company Abalis Finance also contributed to the round.

A second funding round was completed in February 2011, which saw Amsterdam-based Life Sciences Partners contribute €3.5m in a €5m round. The remaining €1.5m was provided by the existing venture capital investors and shareholders. This funding was used to further develop the company's proprietary pulmonary drug delivery technology and to establish further clinical activities.

Company
Founded in 1998 as a spinout from the Helmholtz Centre in Munich by CEO Gerhard Scheuch, Activaero is headquartered in Gemünden with additional offices in Munich and Ohio. The firm focuses on the development of products for the treatment of respiratory diseases such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary arterial hypertension and influenza. Its nebulisation-based technology allows for drug targeting via inhalation.

Activaero's revenues for 2013 were €10.2m, an almost 3.5x increase on its 2010 turnover of €3m.The company's profit before tax in 2012 was €1.2m and it had €11.7m in gross assets.

The firm employs 50 people.

People
Gerhard Scheuch is the founder and CEO of Activaero.

Advisers
Acquirer – Rothschild (Corporate finance).

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