Active Earn-out Agreements

Forendo Pharma

Karolinska Development first invested in Forendo Pharma, which is developing a new treatment for endometriosis, in 2013. Karolinska Development has been heavily involved in the work of Forendo Pharma’s Board of Directors ever since, helping to develop the company up to the point of last year’s sale. In November 2021, the global pharmaceutical company, Organon, acquired Forendo Pharma, for a total purchase price of USD 945 million, with an initial payment of USD 75 million, and conditional future payments linked milestones in development, registration and commercialization of the company’s candidate drugs totaling USD 870 million. This is one of the biggest single transactions ever in the Nordic biotech sector. At the time of Organon’s acquisition of Forendo Pharma, Karolinska Developments’ combined ownership, including indirect holdings via the KCIF Co-Investment Fund, was 9.7 per cent.

Exits

BioArctic 

BioArcticKarolinska Development made its first investment in BioArctic in 2005, and has invested a total of SEK 600,000 in the company. Over the years, BioArctic has made substantial progress in its pharmaceutical projects targeting Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, among others. The company is also developing a treatment for patients with Complete Spinal Cord Injury, for which there is currently no treatment.

BioArctic was listed on the NASDAQ Stockholm exchange in October 2017. A partial exit of BioArctic was completed in the fourth quarter of 2017 which yielded 80 times Karolinska Development’s initial investment in the company and it was followed up in April 2018 by selling the remaining holdings.

Realised earn-out agreements

Xspray 

XsprayIn April 2005, Karolinska Development and KCIF Co-Investment Fund KB (a holding company owned jointly with the European Investment Fund) acquired a holding in Xspray – a company that uses advanced technology to develop improved and generic versions of already marketed pharmaceuticals. When divesting its holding in Xspray in 2015, Karolinska Development also entered into an earn-out agreement with the consortium of investors who acquired the shares, entitling Karolinska Development to shares in Xspray, contingent upon certain future milestones being achieved. Karolinska Development received 3.75% of the total number of shares in Xspray when the company was listed on NASDAQ First North in 2017. These shares were then sold for SEK 13.3 million. The potential value of the earn-out agreement was not assigned any value in Karolinska Development’s Balance Sheet, and the transaction consequently resulted in a profit in the corresponding amount.