NI firm Fusion Antibodies to list on AIM

Fusion Antibodies, the Belfast-based contract research organisation, has confirmed it is to seek an AIM listing on the London Stock Exchange next week and raise £5.5 million to expand its operation.

It will be only the third home-grown company in the North – following in the footsteps of both First Derivatives, and Kainos – to float on AIM.

The Queen’s University spin out said on Wednesday that it will list on AIM on Monday, December 18th, and it is anticipated will have a market capitalisation in the region of £18.1 million.

Fusion Antibodies which was founded in 2001 by Jim Johnston, initially focused on developing drugs to fight cancer, but in 2011 it decided to concentrate on its contract research organisation (CRO) work.

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This proved to be a successful move for the Belfast start up – during the six months to September of this year it grew its turnover to £1.4 million and has also built up an order book worth £1.3 million.

The Belfast biotech business says its current “blue-chip client base” now includes eight of the top ten global pharmaceutical companies by revenue.

It provides a range of services to these companies including antibody generation, development, production, characterisation and optimisation, according to Fusion Antibodies over the last five years it has sequenced over 250 antibodies and completed over 100 humanisation projects.

The Belfast biotech company said it plans to use the £5.5 million it is aiming to raise through a conditional placing to “expand our existing laboratory space, increase our sales and marketing efforts, for the development of new service lines, as well as providing additional working capital”.

Its existing shareholders include the Belfast based venture capital firm Crescent Capital, the Viridian Growth Fund, QUBIS Ltd and Invest Northern Ireland.

Dr Paul Kerr, Fusion’s chief executive said the company’s AIM plans have already generated a great deal of interest from prospective new institutional investors.

“When concluded we anticipate the placing to be oversubscribed and this demonstrates the strong support for our business strategy as we continue to invest in further growth across the business.

“The move to AIM and the additional funding will allow us to continue this growth trajectory by expanding our capacity and developing our offering of new, high value, market differentiating products,” he said.