Silence filings for US listing
Silence Therapeutics has submitted a registration statement to the US SEC as the next step towards obtaining a Nasdaq listing for American Depositary Shares (ADSs).
The RNA therapeutics developer had £52m in cash at the end of May 2020, but it will raise cash in the US offer.
A general meeting will be held on 23 July in order to gain shareholder approval of changes to the company's articles of association and agree to employee incentives.
Silence is still seeking a new chief executive.
Gamma expands in Germany
Gamma Communications is moving into the German market by acquiring an 80% stake in HFO Holding.
HFO has recently started to sell Cloud PBX and Gamma believes that its expertise can help to accelerate growth in this market. In 2019, HFO had revenues of €45.9m and operating profit of €3.2m. Net debt was €2.9m at the time of the acquisition. Gamma had net cash of £37.7m at the end of June 2020.
The initial consideration is €20.4m. The other 20% can be acquired over a three year period for between €7.5m and €17.5m depending on performance.
Draper Esprit disposal gain
Draper Esprit is set to receive £39m in cash from the acquisition of games developer Peak Games by Zynga Inc for $1.85bn in cash and shares.
The total cash and share consideration means that the value of the Peak stake held by the venture capital investor was £88m. This is a £20m increase in the value since the year end.
Draper Esprit had already realised a £26m uplift in the value of the stake in the year to March 2020. This contributed to the £40.8m overall gain during the year. Fee income covered administration costs and pre-tax profit was £40.4m.
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