British and Finnish drug developers plan London IPOs

LONDON - The moves come despite recent market volatility, triggered by fears about Chinese growth prospects, which have led to a sharp correction in U.S. biotechnology stocks after a 2-1/2-year boom.

Although the London stock market was slower to catch the biotech bug initially, it has seen a steady build up in initial public offerings (IPOs) and venture funding, with public and private fundraisings hitting a 10-year high in 2014, according to the British Bioindustry Association.

Newcastle-based specialty pharmaceuticals company Shield said it planned to raised up to 110 million pounds ($167 million) on London's main market, with unconditional dealings commencing on or around Oct. 9.

Shield will use the money raised to help build up its commercial operations, ahead of the expected 2016 launch of its first product Feraccru, a treatment of iron deficiency anaemia.

Faron, which did not specific how much it was looking to raise, plans to list its shares on London's smaller AIM market sometime in October.

The Finnish group has a drug for acute respiratory distress syndrome in final Phase III clinical development. ($1 = 0.6588 pounds).

Source