DNA-Sequencing Company Oxford Nanopore Seeks $415 Million in IPO

Swetha Gopinath, Bloomberg News

A technician holds an Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd. MinION portable and real time device for DNA and RNA sequencing in an arranged photograph taken inside the Plasma Nucleic Acids laboratory in the Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, June 20, 2017. A study led by Hong Kong-based researchers and published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine used DNA fragments in the blood to detect a kind of head and neck cancer called nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The procedure, known as a "liquid biopsy," caught the cancer earlier and more accurately than existing methods -- and ultimately boosted patients' chances of survival. Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) --

DNA-sequencing company Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd., whose technology is used to identify variants of Covid-19, is looking to raise 300 million pounds ($415 million) in a London listing on the back of a pandemic boost.

The offering will also include existing shares, the company said in a statement Thursday. The spinout from the University of Oxford supplies the U.K. with tests that use DNA and RNA sequencing to detect various strains of Covid. Its technology was also used during the Ebola and Zika outbreaks.

The company was worth about 2.5 billion pounds ($3.5 billion) during its last funding round in May, based on the valuation that shareholder IP Group Plc assigns to its 14.5% stake. Oxford Nanopore is opting for a listing on the standard segment of the LSE, meaning it will be ineligible for inclusion into major FTSE benchmarks.

Shareholders in June approved a “limited anti-takeover” share structure, according to a registration document filed ahead of the listing. The special shares, which will be held by Chief Executive Officer Gordon Sanghera, will help block hostile takeovers, but won’t confer any other voting rights and will expire after three years.

Several big companies that have gone public in London over the past year -- online retailer THG Plc, food-delivery startup Deliveroo Plc and fintech Wise Plc -- have done something similar, giving founders a special class of shares with extra voting rights to block an unwanted takeover.

London has been working hard to lure more businesses to its stock exchange, and proposed changes to its listing rules would pave the way for companies with multi-class shares to qualify for a premium quotation, or the top-tier segment of the London Stock Exchange.

The reforms come as the U.K. attempts to bolster its financial position post-Brexit and keep fast-growing British companies, especially those operating in the tech and life-sciences sectors, from fleeing to the U.S. in search of more investors and richer valuations. U.S. gene-sequencing giant Illumina Inc. is valued at more than $70 billion.

Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Barclays Bank Plc, Berenberg, Guggenheim Securities, Numis Securities Ltd and RBC are arranging the offering.