LONDON, UK: Frontier IP, a UK-based company that helps commercialise intellectual property, has announced that it has sold more shares of its portfolio company Exscientia, a biotech firm that uses artificial intelligence to discover new drugs.
The company said it sold 288,850 American Depositary Shares (ADSs) of Exscientia for net proceeds of about $1.86 million (£1.49 million) at an average price of about $6.47 per ADS. The shares were sold between 25 April 2023 and 30 May 2023.
The sale represents a loss for Frontier IP, as the book value of the ADSs sold was £1.28 million as of 31 December 2022. The company said the sale resulted in an estimated realised loss of £1.10 million for the financial year to 30 June 2023.
Frontier IP still owns 493,550 ADSs of Exscientia, which it intends to hold for the long term. The company said it will use the net proceeds from the sale for general working capital purposes and to provide further support to its existing portfolio companies.
Frontier IP has been selling Exscientia shares since January 2022, when Exscientia went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange. The company has sold a total of 1,071,250 Exscientia ADSs for net proceeds of about £11.45 million, generating a realised gain of £2.87 million in the financial year to 30 June 2022 and an estimated realised loss of £0.78 million in the financial year to 30 June 2023. The original cost for these shares was less than £2,000.
Neil Crabb, Chief Executive of Frontier IP, said: “This further realisation strengthens our balance sheet when, as we have noted for some time, there is a risk of ongoing uncertainty in markets, and also increases our ability to be selectively supportive of portfolio companies where we see strong progress and opportunity.”