Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The chief executive of Oxford BioMedica has left the door open to a possible takeover, saying some private equity groups could be a good match for the cell and gene therapy developer which rejected multiple unsolicited offers from EQT this year.
Frank Mathias, who has led the FTSE 250 company since 2023, told the FT in an interview that although the group declined a final bid from Sweden’s EQT in February for an undisclosed amount, his company would always consider offers that could be beneficial to growth and shareholders.
“In life, you have different profiles of private equity firms,” Mathias said ahead of Oxford BioMedica’s capital markets day in London on Tuesday. “Not all will fit us but I believe there are a few that can fit us because maybe under a private situation we [would] be able to grow quicker, because they would be able to give us more financial means. This is something that is fair to at least be considered.”
However he added that any take-private offers would have to reflect a value deemed worthy by the company and match the group’s vision for its future.
“It’s not only the financial figures that drives us here, it’s also what will happen with the vision of the company, how can the private equity firm help us grow quicker,” he said. “These are also very important questions that need to be discussed in advance and that’s where we are. It might be that we might become private but also there are advantages to being on the stock exchange.”
Oxford BioMedica, which began life as a spinout from Oxford university in 1995, shot to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic when it manufactured vaccines on behalf of pharma giant AstraZeneca. The company has since pivoted to become a contract development and manufacturing organisation that manufactures viral vectors for cell and gene therapies. The group focuses on autoimmune disorders and cancer therapies.
Its share price has risen by about 90 per cent over the past 12 months, although it has dipped slightly since the start of the year. The company has a market capitalisation of about £744mn.
EQT’s series of unsolicited private bids for Oxford BioMedica forms part of a broader trend of the buyout sector targeting Europe’s listed groups. UK-based biotechs have also been the subject of takeover bids by US pharma groups with superior financial firepower.
Mathias said the company had to confirm EQT’s bids when news of its interest leaked to the press in January because of UK stock market rules. However, the French executive said they always made it clear that the company was not for sale — a decision that was backed by its largest shareholders, including Novo Holdings, who he said believed in the trajectory of the group.
Oxford BioMedica recorded revenues of £171mn last year, an increase of 33 per cent compared to 2024. Mathias expects the group to keep growing given its experience in the niche market of contract manufacturing viral vectors in cell and gene therapy and its investment in the key US market where there is growing demand.
“We believe that the potential of the company, and this is backed by our long-range plan, is phenomenal,” said Mathias. “Our expectation is that we continue to grow at the pace which will be higher than the market.”
