Oxford Nanopore’s; IPO in London appreciated at $4.6 billion

Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd., a DNA-sequencing business, was valued at 3.4 billion pounds ($4.6 billion) in a London share offering that benefited on a pandemic bounce and high demand for fast-growing tech stocks in the U.K. According to a statement issued Thursday, the assets in the initial public offering were priced at 425 pence each, which was in the upper half of an initial range. Oxford Nanopore raised 350 million pounds through the issuance of new stock, while its investors sold existing shares for 174 million pounds.

Due to overwhelming demand, holders of the University of Oxford spinoff sold more shares in the IPO than intended. The company, which is supported by Oracle Corp (NYSE: ORCL), offers Covid-19 test kits to the United Kingdom’s National Health Service, and its sequencing technique has been used by researchers to define the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in order to discover and track variations.

Oxford Nanopore’s market value has increased by roughly $1 billion since its latest investment round in May, putting it among the most valuable firms in the United Kingdom. The IPO is a significant victory for London’s aim to raise its status as a centre for innovative firms. The company has also given its founder and CEO, Gordon Sanghera, a specific category of shares with additional power to prevent an unwelcome takeover.

Though some investors have criticised the plan to allow numerous classes of shares on the London Stock Exchange’s top-tier premium market for weakening voting rights, there are plans to allow multiple classes of shares on the London Stock Exchange’s top-tier premium market. For the time being, Oxford Nanopore has been relegated to the bourse’s standard category, which means it is ineligible for important benchmarks such as the FTSE Russell indices. The stock will go on sale on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday.

The offering’s global coordinators are Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM). Bookrunners include Barclays (LON: BARC) Bank Plc, Berenberg, Guggenheim Securities, Numis Corp Plc, and RBC Capital Markets.