Aquarius sells Brabant for $35m

Ellie Pullen
29 October 2014

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Aquarius Equity Partners has sold Brabant Pharma, a UK biotech specialising in the treatment of Dravet's syndrome, to US listed pharma company Zogenix for a total consideration of $35m.

The sale price comprises $20m in cash and $15m in stock. There is also the possibility of up to $50m in future milestone payments and a further $45m in royalty payments on sales of Brabant's drug candidate Brabafen. The first payment is not expected to take place until at least late 2016.

Zogenix is also providing Brabant with a $20m term loan and $4m revolving credit facility, designed to aid Brabant in funding the research and development of its Brabafen product.

The sale of Brabant comes just days after another of Aquarius's portfolio companies, C4X Discovery, raised £11m in its IPO on the London Stock Exchange's AIM, giving it a market cap of £31m.

Zogenix is a Nasdaq-listed, California-based pharmaceutical company that develops products designed to treat pain-related and central nervous system disorders.

Previous funding
Aquarius invested in Brabant in March last year, making a "significant" contribution to the company, according to the firm, in return for a minority stake.

Company
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Manchester, Brabant is developing an oral treatment, Brabafen, designed to treat children with Dravet's syndrome, also known as severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy.

Dravet's syndrome is a rare form of childhood epilepsy that causes seizures that can result in cognitive impairment. According to Brabant, 10-15% of children with the condition die. The condition does not respond to standard anti-epileptic medications.

People
Rick Stewart is the CEO of Brabant. Roger Hawley is the CEO of Zogenix.