Investment bank in talks for £500m Neil Woodford healthcare portfolio
A consortium led by a boutique life sciences investment bank is in talks to acquire £500m of healthcare assets bought by former star fund manager Neil Woodford.
A WG partners-led consortium is the frontrunner to buy the stakes in roughly 15 companies held by Woodford Investment Management, Sky News reported.
The potential deal follows Woodford’s announcement that he was shutting his firm.
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Other bidders for the stakes in listed and privately held healthcare firms include hedge fund Omega and venture fund Rosetta Capital, according to the report.
The portfolio is valued in the region of £500m.
It includes DNA sequencing specialist Oxford Nanopore, biotherapeutics specialist 4D Pharma, rare diseases specialist Mereo BioPharma Group and proton beam therapy business Proton Partners.
The sizes of stakes vary and the deal could take several weeks, Sky reported.
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Investment bank PJT Park Hill is overseeing the sale which also includes stakes in Immunocore, Kymab, Verseon and Arix Bioscience.
Woodford Investment Management was shuttered last month after Woodford was fired from his flagship Equity Income Fund, which had been suspended since June, and quit as manager of two others.
WG declined to comment.