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Shares rise in VC-backed Abzena after £20m IPO

Ellie Pullen
23 July 2014

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Venture capital-backed UK biotech Abzena, the parent company of recently merged Polytherics and Antitope, has seen a steady uptick in its share price following its IPO.

Abzena saw a quick increase in share price on its first day of unconditional trading, rising from 80 pence to 84 pence per share. This increased to 85 pence per share at the beginning of this week, before edging back down to 84 pence apiece at market close yesterday (Tuesday 22 July).

The company trades on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker "ABZA". Shares began trading earlier this month following a £22.7m IPO that saw Abzena sell 25 million new shares at 80 pence each and a further 3.4 million existing shares.

The offering gave Abzena a market cap of £77.9m. Cenkos Securities acted as nominated adviser and broker for the flotation.

Abzena was formed in July last year through the takeover of Antitope by Polytherics, which was funded by a £13.5m commitment from Imperial Innovations, Mercia Fund Management, Catapult Venture Managers and Invesco Perpetual.

Polytherics was already backed by Imperial, Beringea, YFM Equity Partners and Longbow before its acquisition of Antitope. Through the IPO, Beringea's stake in the business is now worth £3m, equivalent to a multiple of 2.4x its investment.

Cambridge-headquartered Abzena provides services for biopharmaceutical research and development, such as immunogenicity assessment, cell line development and antibody drug conjugates.

The company generated £5.8m in aggregate revenues for the year to April 2014, which was calculated as though Antitope had been acquired by Polytherics in April last year. Abzena currently employs 83 staff. John Burt is its CEO.