Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 10 July 2014. It is with great pleasure that today, LSP – the specialist European healthcare investment firm – announces that its portfolio company arGEN-X was successfully listed on the Euronext Brussels stock exchange on Thursday July 10 under the ticker “ARGX” at a market capitalization of EUR 132 mln The company raised EUR 40 mln in the IPO from investors in Europe and the US and will use the funds to advance the clinical development of its differentiated therapeutic antibody candidates, ARGX-110, ARGX-111 and ARGX-113.
LSP financed and actively supported arGEN-X since 2009, when LSP co-led the company’s Series A financing round. Since that investment, the company has transformed from a unique technology platform company into a clinical-stage product company, focused on differentiated therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer and severe autoimmune diseases.
The arGEN-X investment further validates LSP’s long-term approach of identifying breakthrough technologies, building companies around them and playing an active role all along. John de Koning has represented LSP on the company’s Board and has worked closely with management and other Board members to steer arGEN-X towards this important event in the history of the company.
The IPO of arGEN-X further enriches LSP’s track record, which was already validated by several recent trade sales such as Okairos to GSK, Movetis to Shire, U3 Pharma to Daiichi Sankyo, Activaero to Vectura, Syntaxin to Ipsen, Pasteuria to Syngenta, Flowcardia to Bard, BMEYE to Edwards, Kudos to AstraZeneca, Jerini to Shire and DNage to Pharming, as well as the IPOs of Celladon, Prosensa and Zealand Pharma. In the majority of these cases, LSP was lead and founding investor. These exits have allowed the growth of LSP as a firm.
Since inception, LSP has launched a number funds, follow-on funds and new products, raising in excess of USD 1 billion of investment capital to date. Most recently, LSP closed its Health Economics Fund with a volume of EUR 112 mln, which targets investments in cost-efficient medical technology companies. Other successful investment strategies include LSP’s public healthcare investment activity that has generated triple figure returns over a five year period. As a consequence, LSP has grown to become one of the most successful global healthcare investment groups. For more information, please visit lspvc.com.
Dr. John de Koning
Partner