Autolus pricing for Nasdaq IPO reveals gains for Syncona, Woodford, Arix

Autolus Therapeutics has confirmed the pricing for its initial public offer on the Nasdaq index of the New York Stock Exchange, providing a monetary boost for shareholders including Syncona, the Woodford Patient Capital fund and Arix Bioscience.

In the Securities and Exchange Commission registration statement for its IPO, Autolus gave an indicative pricing range for the proposed offering of $15-17 per American depositary shares, each of which will represent one ordinary share.

Autolus, which is a biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation programmed T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer, proposed a maximum aggregate offering amount in the SEC filing of $125m.

For FTSE 250-listed Syncona, which owns 38% of Autolus, it would represent an increase in value of £49.5-67.7m or 7.4p-10.2p per Syncona share. Syncona also confirmed that it is interested in purchasing ADSs in the offering, subject to agreement with the underwriters.

Syncona noted that the proposed maximum aggregate offering of $125m assumes the offering price is at the midpoint of the indicative pricing range and does not include the underwriters' option to purchase additional ADSs.

For the Woodford fund, which owns a 20% stake of Autolus that makes up 4.35% of the trust’s investments, the pricing would represent an increase in value of its current shareholding in Autolus of £25.9-35.1m or 3.1p-4.2p per WPCT share, compared its valuation in April.

Arix, for which Autolus is its largest shareholding, the IPO suggests a £10.5-14.6m increase in value from its £20.1m 2018 sterling holding value. Arix has also indicated an interest in purchasing ADSs in the offering.