Before the exchange opened on Tuesday morning, news came that cancer vaccine company Vaccibody has entered into a licensing and collaboration agreement with US biotechnology group Regeneron to develop and market potential new vaccines against cancer and infectious diseases.
When the exchange opened, the stock jumped straight, and was at most nearly 30 percent higher. In the end, the rally settled at between 14 and 20 percent, and at the end of trading, the stock closed at NOK 75.40 versus Monday’s closing price of NOK 65.5.
Several prominent Vaccibody contributors were able to enjoy the price increase.
Jan Haudemann-Andersen is Vaccibody’s largest shareholder. Here’s DN with him on the hunt for Jello in 2019 (Photo: Skjalg Bøhmer Vold)
Hundremillionersgevinster
Investor Jan Haudemann-Andersen, who is the company’s largest owner with about 14 percent of the shares, has paper earnings of about NOK 399 million.
An agreement of this magnitude takes a long time to negotiate. All the best to the management. The agreement shows some of the breadth of the technology platform, Haudemann-Andersen tells DN. He does not want to say anything about the evolution of prices today.
He wasn’t the only one who saw vaccine values rise after Tuesday’s rally:
- The Radiumhospitalet Research Foundation has made paper gains of about NOK 238 million.
- Andenæs Group made a paper profit of around DKK 249 million. Billionaire Tor Andenæs is the investment firm’s chairman. He is well over four billion kroner, according to Kapital’s list of the richest people in Norway.
- Rasmussen Group, which is the second largest shareholder in Vaccibody, made paper gains of about 336 million NOK. The controlling owner and general manager of the investment company is Dag Rasmussen. According to Kapital’s list of the richest people in Norway, he is listed with a fortune of 6.2 billion Norwegian kroner.
– Dag Rasmussen tells DN It is an important verification of the company’s technology platform that leading biotech companies are finding their platform interesting.
– How does the vaccine body’s investment compare to the other you invested in?
Let me put it this way: It was a very good investment. Of course it’s nice to get a return on a big investment, but I feel like we’re on a trip that could end up with more than an extra kronor to the bottom of the coffin for us in Kristiansand. It could end up giving a new and better medical treatment to many people, Rasmussen says.
Meanwhile, investors Tore Aksel Voldberg, Runar Vatne and Ole Morten Halvorsen each made paper gains of 80-90 million kroner.
According to the shareholder register, Voldberg is also reported to have increased its holdings of 325,000 shares in the company in the past month. Solon Eiendom Chairman Simen Thorsen also increased his holdings in Vaccibody during the same time period. He owns just over three million shares, or 1.3 percent of the company.
In all, the company’s prominent shareholder generated a total paper gain of nearly NOK 1.5 billion after the price increase.
A potential billion dollar deal
The agreement, which was announced prior to the opening of the exchange, entails, among other things, an advance payment of USD 30 million (269 million NOK) and a capital investment of USD 20 million, equivalent to NOK 179 million, with a premium It is a 20 percent increase over Vaccibody’s share price in the last 30 days before the agreement was entered into.
The Norwegian biotech company is also likely to be eligible to receive more than $875 million in so-called “completion payments” based on future development and potential commercial achievements, plus royalties. This corresponds to 7.8 billion NOK.
A separate letter indicates that Vaccibody is changing his name to Nykode Therapeutics.
The agreement with Regeneron includes five different research programs, three of which will focus on cancer and two on infectious diseases. Each of these programs may have multiple vaccine candidates, and all of them may be eligible for major payments and royalties.
The vaccine body will be responsible for creating and characterizing the vaccines and supplying the product until the end of the Phase I trials. Regeneron is responsible for antigen identification, clinical preclinical development, production and end-stage commercialization.
Cancer vaccine company Vaccibody currently costs about NOK 21.7 billion on the Oslo Stock Exchange, just over a year after it went on the stock exchange.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and/or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using a link that leads directly to our pages. All or part of the Content may not be copied or otherwise used with written permission or as permitted by law. For additional terms look here.
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