19th Jun 2025 10:06
(Alliance News) - Syncona Ltd shares climbed on Thursday as it proposed a change of investment objective to move to an orderly realisation of assets, as it reported a decline in net asset value.
Shares in Syncona were up 6.3% at 94.60 pence in London on Thursday morning.
The London-based investor in healthcare companies said for the financial year to the end of March, the NAV total return was negative 9.5%. NAV per share fell 9.4% to 170.9p from 188.7p a year ago.
The firm said the performance was driven by the decrease in Autolus Therapeutics' share price and partial write-downs at Resolution Therapeutics and Biomodal.
The life science portfolio was valued at GBP765.4 million at the end of March, down 9.4% from GBP786.1 million a year prior.
The company said that it continues to navigate "sustained challenging market conditions".
"Global macroeconomic conditions have been challenging, with markets for Syncona and our portfolio particularly difficult with increased volatility in 2025. Our financial performance has been significantly impacted by the decline of Autolus' share price," said Chair Melanie Gee.
"Against this backdrop, the [Syncona Investment Management Ltd] team has worked closely with the portfolio companies to attract external investment across an increasingly late-stage portfolio and the board is pleased with the progress that has been made."
Syncona said it has "engaged extensively" with shareholders are part of a "comprehensive review of options to maximise value," against a backdrop of underperformance for the biotech sector.
It intends to propose a change to the investment objective and policy to move to an orderly realisation of its portfolio assets, "with a view to achieving a balance between returning cash to shareholders in a timely manner and maximising value".
Alongside this, Syncona said it plans to adopt a new capital allocation policy. It will seek to continue financial support for existing portfolio companies, which have the potential to provide liquidity via mergers and acquisitions or the public markets.
Net proceeds from any disposal of interests in private portfolio companies will be returned to shareholders, subject to retaining a reserve for operating costs.
Syncona added that if it is approved, the new investment objective and policy will be reviewed once significant proceeds have been returned to shareholders or after three years.
This would be to "ensure the continued return of net proceeds from realisations remains in the best interests of shareholders".
Syncona said it is also exploring options to accelerate realisations, which could include the sale of a "small portion of its interests" in certain companies at a "modest implied premium to the current share price and at a discount to NAV".
The company said if this were to take place, it would return net proceeds to shareholders, together with cash it has allocated to support future investments in the assets.
It said the board is also exploring the possibility of providing institutional shareholders with an opportunity to roll their interests in the company into a new private investment vehicle, independent of the company.
Discussions are ongoing with "a number of sophisticated institutional and strategic investors and London-based university and research partners" about participating in the fund, Syncona added.
The company said it also expects to reduce the size of the board to reflect the new strategy.
"Syncona's share price has continued to be impacted by the significant headwinds in the markets it operates," Chair Gee explained.
"Syncona has a diverse shareholder base and our intention to propose the change of investment objective and policy, and our ambitions, are the result of extensive engagement with our shareholders and the significant work and partnership with the SIML team...We remain focused on exploring options to provide shareholders with accelerated cash returns and seeking to offer certain Syncona shareholders the opportunity to roll their interest into a new private fund."
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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