Oxford Biomedica to complete sale and leaseback of Windrush Court facility for £60 million
Oxford, UK – 14 November 2022: Oxford Biomedica plc (LSE:OXB) (“Oxford Biomedica” or “the Company”), a leading gene and cell therapy group, today announces exchange of contracts for the sale of its Windrush Court facility (the "Property") to Kadans Science Partner (“Kadans”) for £60 million. Completion is due to occur on or around the 18th November 2022. The sale proceeds of £60 million exceed the target offer figure of £55 million that the Company previously announced it was seeking. Further, as a result, the Company’s cash position is expected to further strengthen to more than £150 million. The current net book value of the Property is approximately £7.9 million.
In addition, Kadans have granted Oxford Biomedica an occupational lease of the Property for 15 years at a rent of £3.5 million per annum rising to £4.7 million per annum after five years, with a market rent review at 10 years.
The Windrush Court facility is a c.75,000 sq ft building consisting of state-of-the-art laboratories as well as extensive office space which the Company have developed over the past 8 years. The facility houses the Company’s Analytical Services Group and Process Research & Development functions.
Stuart Paynter, Chief Financial Officer of Oxford Biomedica, commented: “We are pleased to have exchanged contracts for the sale and leaseback of our state-of-the-art Windrush Court facility and look forward to building a relationship with Kadans, the European leader in the development and management of life sciences buildings and ecosystems. The proceeds of the transaction will enhance our net cash position, providing us with additional financial flexibility as we build our leadership as an innovation-led CDMO across all viral vectors for cell and gene therapy.”
James Sheppard, Managing Director (UK & Ireland) of Kadans, commented: “We are delighted to secure this tremendously important asset in the Oxford ecosystem. Oxford Biomedica is one of the world’s leading companies in cell and gene therapy, an area of deep specialism for Kadans, and we look forward to building a relationship with the team.”
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Enquiries:
Oxford Biomedica plc:
Stuart Paynter, Chief Financial Officer – T: +44 (0)1865 783 000
Taylor Boyd, VP, Head of IR – T: +1 919 539 1234 / E: ir@oxb.com
Sophia Bolhassan, VP, Corporate Affairs and IR – T: +44 (0) 7394 562 425 / E: ir@oxb.com
Consilium Strategic Communications:
T: +44 (0)20 3709 5700 / E: oxfordbiomedica@consilium-comms.com
Mary-Jane Elliott / Matthew Cole / Angela Gray
About Oxford Biomedica
Oxford Biomedica (LSE:OXB) is an innovative leading viral vector specialist focused on delivering life changing therapies to patients.
Oxford Biomedica plc and its subsidiaries (the Group) work across key viral vector delivery systems including those based on lentivirus, adeno-associated virus (AAV) and adenovirus, providing innovative solutions to cell and gene therapy biotechnology and biopharma companies for their process development, analytical development and manufacturing needs. Oxford Biomedica has built a sector leading lentiviral vector delivery system, LentiVector® platform, and is working on programmes from pre-clinical to commercial stage across a range of therapeutic areas with global partners.
Oxford Biomedica is based across several locations and headquartered in Oxfordshire, UK. In 2022, the Group established Oxford Biomedica Solutions, a US based subsidiary AAV manufacturing and innovation business, based near Boston, US.
Further information is available at www.oxb.com.
About Kadans Science Partner
Kadans Science Partner is the European leader investing in the development of ecosystems and real estate with a dedicated focus on the knowledge intensive sector. Kadans has invested across various specific areas, like agri-tech in Wageningen, life sciences in Leiden, and cell & gene therapy in Stevenage, UK. Kadans provides its tenants with an array of additional services tailored to their specific needs. In December 2020, Kadans was acquired by AXA IM Alts, which, as a long- term capital partner, has allowed us to significantly accelerate our growth.
Kadans is currently present on 26 campuses, in 7 countries, where it operates over 8 million sq ft of space for over 450 tenants, including start-ups, scale-ups, corporates, government bodies and educational institutes. Kadans has a solid view of the developments our tenants and partners are currently working on and which parties in our network could benefit from connecting.
