Karolinska Development divests its holding in XSpray Microparticles AB to an investment consortium led by Östersjöstiftelsen and Recipharm Venture Fund

Karolinska Development AB announces that it divests its entire shareholding in the drug delivery company XSpray Microparticles AB to a consortium led by The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies (Östersjöstiftelsen) and Recipharm Venture Fund.

An earn-out agreement
“I am very pleased to announce we have concluded the divestment of XSpray Microparticles to an investor consortium led by Östersjöstiftelsen and Recipharm Venture Fund, that also includes XSpray Microparticles’ Board, management and other investors. An important part of this deal is that the consortium will provide the necessary funding to bring XSpray Microparticles to the next value inflection point. Karolinska Development retains an economic interest in the company through an earn-out agreement with potential significant future value,” says Jim Van heusden, CEO of Karolinska Development.

As part of the agreement, Karolinska Development and KCIF Co-Investment Fund KB, a holding company jointly owned by the European Investment Fund and Karolinska Development, will transfer their entire shareholdings in XSpray Microparticles to the consortium led by Östersjöstiftelsen and Recipharm Venture Fund in an earn-out agreement. The divestment has no impact on the latest reported fair value and no further financial details on this transaction will be disclosed.

SEK 18 million
Concurrently with the agreement, the consortium is investing SEK 18 million into XSpray Microparticles to fund the clinical development of its lead compound, XS004, developed with XSpray’s proprietary HyNap™ drug formulation technology. XS004 is based on a well-known protein kinase inhibitor compound. It is anticipated that these funds will take XS004 through the Phase I clinical trial, results of which are expected in Q2 2016.

Source: Karolinska Development