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Novo Annual Report 2015
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large
investments
since 2013, novo
?s investments in early-stage commercial companies have been redirected towards well-established, cash-flow positive companies with strongly positioned products and attractive long-term prospects. our large investments complement our seed and venture portfolios by focusing on mature, well-established life science companies with a strong market position, attractive growth prospects, and an ambitious innovation agenda. the large investments can be made in publicly listed as well as privately owned companies and, depending on the situation, we may invest to take either a minority or a controlling position. in 2015
, novo acquired a 3.24% share of equity in the uk-listed speciality pharma company, btg plc. btg licenses, develops and commercialises pharmaceuticals and has a pipeline of development programmes targeting neurological and other disorders, including varicose veins. in addition, inogen was moved from our venture portfolio to large investments indicating our long-term interest in this company. by the end of 2015, our large investments portfolio consisted of sonion, xellia, chr. hansen, symphogen, orexo, inogen, veloxis and btg. 2015 was a good year for chr. hansen holding a/s with a share price increase of 57%. venture investments in 2015, novo continued its strong commitment to life science ventures by making new and follow-on investments, consolidating our position as a recognised international investor within life science ventures. as of 2015, the active venture portfolio consists of 42 companies of which 32 are located in the us. we invested dkk 1,733 million as venture capital ? dkk 1,077 million in new companies and dkk 656 million as follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies. in 2015, 13 of our portfolio companies were sold, four were listed in public offerings, and six were liquidated. exit proceeds totalled dkk 3,643 million. at the end of 2015, the total book value of our venture investments was dkk 3.9 billion. seed investments novo runs a seed investment programme that supports early- stage life science companies, primarily in the nordic region. in addition, novo assists the novo nordisk foundation in a pre- seed programme that aims to identify and support academic research with commercial potential. this programme provides managerial and strategic support to early-stage projects, and funding is given as grants in the same manner as other grants awarded by the novo nordisk foundation. in may 2015, gilead sciences inc., a global biopharma- ceutical company, acquired epitherapeutics in which novo seeds was a lead investor. in the same month, the novo seeds portfolio company, galecto biotech initiated phase 2a studies with the company?s galectin-3 inhibitor for the treatment of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. in 2015, novo seeds made a strategic decision to contribute to strengthening the nordic biotech environment. novo seeds will continue to build on the successes of its seed investment portfolio and leverage the opportunities of the pre-seed programmes managed on behalf of the novo nordisk foundation. furthermore, novo seeds will work to increase the number of participants in the capital market for early-stage biotech. in the long run, the presence of more early-stage capital allocators will lead to improved exit opportunities for seed companies. financial investments the purpose of our financial investments is to diversify our entire investment portfolio, thereby spreading the risk while achieving high returns. these investments also serve as a liquidity buffer to cover the needs of the novo nordisk foundation, the novo group and other portfolio companies. since novo is fully equity financed and our external large investments dkk million 2015 2014 value at the end of the year 27,774 20,686 investments during the year 1,205 4,479 cash proceeds during the year 2,050 2,661 unrealised and realised returns during the year 6,577 3,092 venture investments dkk million 2015 2014 value at the end of the year 3,854 5,331 investments during the year 1,733 1,096 cash proceeds during the year 3,643 2,590 unrealised and realised returns during the year 1,959 4,252 seed investments dkk million 2015 2014 value at the end of the year 250 237 investments during the year 75 97 cash proceeds during the year 129 11 unrealised and realised returns during the year 56 -8 management report in 2015 novo ventures expanded its us presence by opening a regional office in boston, massachusetts. novo a/s 12
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