Syncona to cash in as Biogen acquires Nightstar

Healthcare investment company Syncona updated the market on Nightstar Therapeutics on Monday, confirming it has reached an agreement to be acquired by Biogen at a price of $25.50 per share.

The FTSE 250 firm founded Nightstar, and described it as a clinical-stage gene therapy firm developing treatments for rare inherited retinal diseases.

It said the offer valued Nightstar at $877m, and represented a 4.5x multiple on Syncona's original investment of £56.4m, and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 72%.

The sale of Nightstar would generate £254.6m of proceeds for Syncona, and was expected to complete in the second quarter.

“In the six years since Syncona founded Nightstar, the company has established itself as one of the global leaders in retinal gene therapies,” said Syncona chief executive Martin Murphy.

“It is a strong example of our differentiated approach of founding, building and funding global leaders in life science and we look forward to seeing Nightstar work to deliver transformational treatments to patients during the next phase of its development with Biogen.”

Murphy said the offer for Nightstar would generate £254.6m of proceeds for Syncona, which he claimed demonstrated its ability to generate “superior returns” for shareholders.

“We will use the proceeds to continue to build and fund our portfolio companies and to pursue exciting new opportunities where we can build globally competitive companies around exceptional science.”