Oxford Nanopore is reportedly eyeing a $2.1bn private placement that could offer an exit to Woodford Investment Management.
Oxford Nanopore, the UK-based genetic sequencing technology spinout of University of Oxford, is to seek £1.6bn ($2.1bn) in a forthcoming private placement, The Times reported yesterday.
The purported transaction could help Woodford Investment Management, soon to close having failed to restore its liquidity, by enabling the firm to sell down equity that reportedly represents the biggest stake in its portfolio by market value.
It is unclear how the move tallies with earlier suggestions that the spinout was looking to go public.
Founded in 2005, Oxford Nanopore has devised real-time DNA and RNA sequencing technology that offers biological analyses at comparatively low cost, meeting potential applications in disease and pathogen surveillance, as well as environmental monitoring, food supply chain inspection and microgravity biology.
An ionic current is passed through an array of protein nanopores laid on top of electrically-resistant polymer, enabling researchers to investigate specific…
