Gimv portfolio company Covagen acquired by Cilag GmbH Int’l
Investment company Gimv (www.gimv.com) today announced the successful sale of its Swiss portfolio company Covagen (www.covagen.com) to Cilag GmbH International, an affiliate of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. Covagen develops novel drugs for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases.
In December 2013, Gimv led a CHF 42.0 million series B capital round by committing CHF 8.3 million to Covagen, which were partially invested. This was one of the largest private preclinical financing rounds for a biotech company in Europe last year. In the conjunction with the transaction, Dr. Karl Nägler, Partner Health & Care at Gimv, joined Covagen’s board of directors. Meanwhile, he took the role of Chairman of the board.
Based on the transaction consideration -after deduction of the usual provisions- the sale has a positive impact of EUR 14.8 milion (EUR 0.58 per share) on Gimv’s last published equity value at 30 June 2014. Over the investment period, this shareholding’s return is far above Gimv’s historic average. No further financial details on this transaction will be disclosed.
Established as a spin-off from ETH Zürich (Switzerland) in 2007, Covagen develops via its patented Fynomer®-technology a platform of therapeutics for the treatment of inflammatory diseases and cancer.
Karl Nägler, Partner at Gimv’s Health & Care platform on the transaction: "We have known Covagen and its management team more than six years. Since 2008, we have been following the successful development of the company. Today, we are proud to participate in its success after such a longstanding and close relationship."
Link to press release of Janssen affiliate Cilag GmbH International: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/janssen-affiliate-cilag-gmbh-in…