LONDON, UK: Conviction Life Sciences Company Limited (CLSC) announced the launch of its initial public offering (IPO) including an Intermediaries Offer. The company is seeking to list on the Premium Segment of the Official List of the FCA and to begin trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.

Conviction Life Sciences is targeting gross proceeds of up to £100 million through the issue of up to 100 million Ordinary Shares by way of the Initial Placing, the Offer for Subscription, Direct Subscriptions and the Intermediaries Offer at 100 pence per Ordinary Share.

Conviction Life Sciences is also undertaking a placing programme for up to 250 million Ordinary Shares (less the number of Ordinary Shares issued pursuant to the Initial Issue) (the Placing Programme).

Interactive Investor, AJ Bell, Equiniti, PrimaryBid and Jarvis Investment Management have been appointed as intermediaries.

CLSC is a newly established closed-ended investment company managed by Plain English Finance Limited. The Initial Issue will raise funds for the Company to deploy in the compelling structural investment opportunity that the Directors believe is presented by the global life sciences and medical technology markets.

Key Information and Investment Highlights

• The Board and the Investment Manager have more than 200 combined years of financial markets and relevant life sciences experience.
• The Company’s investment objective is to deliver capital appreciation to Shareholders over the long-term by investing in a conviction portfolio of life sciences and medical technology businesses, based primarily in the UK, Europe and Australasia.
• CLSC will invest in both Publicly Traded and Private companies – c. 70% and c. 20% of the total portfolio value respectively.
• CLSC will target an annualised Total NAV Return of 20 per cent over the long-term.
• CLSC expects to hold minority equity positions in between 20 and 40 businesses with effect from the date falling six months from Initial Admission.
• The portfolio will seek exposure to a diverse set of technologies, including (but not limited to) diagnostics and therapeutics, as well as pharmaceutical services businesses. Platform technologies (where the intellectual property has the ability to address multiple diseases or otherwise create multiple assets) will generally be preferred.
• The Investment Manager will look to invest in businesses that address a very sizeable market or which have products with scope to be first or best in class.
• The Investment Manager will seek to construct a portfolio of investments such that there will be a number of clinical and commercial inflection points within the portfolio as a whole in any given quarter.
• Life science companies serve large and high growth markets with powerful tailwinds. At the end of 2021, the top 701 biopharma companies in the world had grown in value to US$5.5 trillion, while global pharmaceutical revenues for 2021 were US$1.42 trillion.
• Notwithstanding this market size and growth potential, the Investment Manager believes there are a large number of life sciences and medical technology businesses which are structurally undervalued, particularly in the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia.

Geoff Miller, Chairman of Conviction Life Sciences said: “Conviction Life Sciences is seeking to provide investors with exposure to a broad portfolio of exciting, fast-growth companies where the Investment Manager believes there is evidence of significant undervaluation. With more than 200 combined years of financial markets and life sciences experience between the Board and the Investment Manager, the Directors of CLSC have confidence that we have established a well-positioned team to capitalise on this opportunity.

We intend to invest in up to 40 companies serving very sizeable markets which are addressing global issues relating to more than just healthcare. Biotech can and will have a huge impact on agricultural production and clean energy generation for example, which could go a long way to addressing environmental degradation and climate change.”

Andrew Craig, Founder of Plain English Finance Ltd, Investment Manager, said: “We believe that the opportunity to invest in life science companies, particularly in the UK, Europe and Australia, is compelling. This is because we believe that there is a structural opportunity which has led to numerous businesses being significantly undervalued.

“As a result, CLSC has been created to provide investors with a vehicle through which to capitalise on this opportunity to invest in undervalued life sciences companies in these geographic markets. We have a team of highly experienced life science and financial services experts who are unified in this belief and well-positioned to execute against this investment strategy.

“We believe that biotech is a burgeoning theme, primarily due to the exponential pace of scientific progress and because many of our biggest remaining challenges as a species concern biological systems.

“With this in mind, we plan to invest in a portfolio of Publicly-Traded and Private businesses. In doing so, we aim to help drive improved patient outcomes and wealth creation, and with the potential for multiple value catalysts across our intended portfolio, we believe we can deliver compelling returns over the long-term.”