Fusion Antibodies raises £5.5m in London Stock Exchange debut

Belfast pharma company Fusion Antibodies has raised £5.5 million (€6.2m) in its debut on the junior market of the London Stock Exchange.

Fusion, a contract research organisation providing antibody engineering services for the development of antibodies for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications, placed 6,707,317 ordinary shares on AIM at a price of £0.82.

The shares have ended trading on Monday at 124p, a 50 per cent premium to the IPO placing price. The first day of trading saw the company’s original market valuation increase from £18.1 million to just over £27 million.

Dr Paul Kerr, chief executive of Fusion, said: "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."

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The company said it would use the funds to expand its existing laboratory space, increase its sales and marketing efforts, develop new service lines, as well as providing additional working capital.

Established in 2001 as a spin out from Queen’s University Belfast, Fusion is a Belfast-based, revenue-generating and profitable CRO providing a range of antibody engineering services for the development of antibodies for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications.

Since 2012, the company has successfully sequenced over 250 antibodies and successfully completed over 100 humanisation projects for its international, blue-chip client base, which includes eight of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies by revenue.

Fusion was also the 100th company to float on the London Stock Exchange this year.