Mubadala invests $235.71 million in German pharma firm ‘Evotec’

Mubadala Investment Company on Tuesday announced that it is pumping 200 million euros ($235.71 million)  into Evotec, a German pharmaceutical company that specialises in drug discovery solutions.

Evotec said that it resolved a capital increase from its authorised capital without pre-emptive rights against cash.

Evotec will issue a total of 11,478,298 new shares to Mubadala Investment Company and Novo Holdings, increasing Evotec’s cash reserves by 250 million euros ($294.62 million)  in total.

In this private placement capital increase, Mubadala Investment Company, a sovereign investor with an entrepreneurial mind-set and a long-standing history of strategic investments in the healthcare sector, will invest 200 million euros to subscribe for approx. 5.6  per cent of outstanding Evotec shares.

Evotec’s existing shareholder Novo Holdings also will invest 50 million euros to support Evotec’s accelerated growth ambition and to reinforce its ownership in the company of approx. 11.0 per cent of outstanding shares.

Evotec has developed a unique strategy to become the global leading platform company for the modality-agnostic development of innovative first-in-class and best-in-class therapeutic approaches resulting in a large co-owned pipeline. Evotec has continuously expanded its operations internationally with more than 3,400 employees at 14 global sites in Germany, USA, France, Italy, UK, and Austria.

By leveraging its proprietary platforms within a comprehensive network of high-value partnerships, Evotec aims to improve global access to more precise and effective medicines. Future investments will accelerate Evotec’s underlying business strategy and enable the company’s next strategic growth phase.

Dr. Werner Lanthaler, Chief Executive Officer of Evotec, commented, “We welcome Mubadala to our group of strategic investors. There is no reason for us to slow down our mission in spite of the ongoing pandemic. We can and want to grow even faster and see a lot of positive momentum in our business strategy. We are delighted that Mubadala has chosen to invest in Evotec with a long-term view.”

“Also, we are pleased to see that Novo Holdings A/S continues to support our strategy. This investment allows us to further accelerate our strategy to create the world-leading “R&D Autobahn to Cures” from discovery to commercial manufacturing.”  Enno Spillner, Chief Financial Officer of Evotec, added, “With this commitment by existing and new investors, our liquidity reserves will total more than € 500 m.

Thus this placement will generate a net cash position of more than 150 million euros (excluding IFRS 16) with Evotec’s net-debt leverage turning negative (excluding IFRS 16). Our equity ratio will strengthen to above 50 per cent.

While maintaining our business outlook for 2020, the very positive impact of this transaction on our balance sheet structure will increase our flexibility and makes us even better prepared for our accelerated global expansion steps.” Camilla Macapili Languille, Head of Pharma & Medtech at Mubadala Investment Company, commented, “We are excited to partner with Evotec, who we see as one of the global pioneers for drug discovery innovation. We have been impressed by the quality and depth of Evotec’s management team, the company’s distinctive business model, their proprietary technological platforms and the unique role they play in the rapidly growing universe of pharmaceutical & biotech R&D — an area whose importance is acutely highlighted in the current environment.

 WAM