Syncona has entered into a definitive agreement with the Nasdaq-listed Freeline Therapeutics, it announced on Friday, alongside other existing shareholders, to purchase $26.1m of its American depositary shares (ADS).
The FTSE 250 firm said each ADS represented one ordinary share of Freeline, with a price of $1.05 per ADS in the registered direct offering.
It said it had agreed to invest $20m (£15.3m) in the offering, after which Syncona would retain a stake of 55% in Freeline, valued at £30.4m at close of business on 10 March.
Freeline intended to use the net proceeds from the offering to fund the continued development of its product candidates and gene therapy platform, and for other general corporate purposes.
The closing of the offering was expected on or around 15 March, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
“Following on from the recent sale of Gyroscope, we continue to work closely with our portfolio companies as they progress their programmes to late-stage development,” said Chris Hollowood, chief investment officer at Syncona Investment Management.
“We are pleased to leverage our strategic balance sheet as we participate in this financing, which will allow the company to capitalise on its renewed momentum and significantly progress its clinical pipeline in haemophilia B, Fabry disease and Gaucher disease.”
At 1005 GMT, shares in Syncona were down 0.37% at 178.53p.
