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Novo Annual Report 2015
6 / 72
the
novo
group
novo
a/s is the controlling shareholder in
novo
nordisk a/s and
novo
zymes a/s. both companies achieved very good financial results in
2015
.
novo
nordisk increased its profit after tax by 32%; and in
novo
zymes, the profit after tax increased by 12%. the value of shares in the two companies rose by 54% and 27%, respectively.
novo
a/s acquired 25.5% of the shares in nnit when the company was listed on nasdaq copenhagen on 6 march
2015
. as
novo
nordisk a/s has retained a 25.5% ownership of nnit,
novo
a/s is ultimately the controlling shareholder of the company. nnit?s ipo was very successful, and the company?s performance has been satisfactory throughout
2015
. large
investments
in
2015
, large
investments
added btg and inogen to its portfolio and divested its shares in aerocrine ab. in addition, we focused our activities on the further development of our existing portfolio. of the larger companies in the portfolio, chr. hansen a/s and the sonion group lived up to, or exceeded expectations, and xellia pharmaceuticals a/s made further progress towards fulfilling its market potential. venture
investments
as in previous years,
novo
worked to further consolidate its position as a major international investor within life science ventures. in
2015
,
novo
invested in 17 new companies, made follow-on
investments
in 30 of our existing portfolio companies, and successfully exited 13 companies. our
investments
this year totalled dkk 1,733 million, and exit proceeds amounted to dkk 3,643 million. by the end of the year, the market value of our venture portfolio reached dkk 3.9 billion. furthermore,
novo
ventures expanded its us footprint with the opening of a regional office in boston, massachusetts. seed
investments
to enable early
investments
in the life science area,
novo
runs a seed programme. in
2015
, we invested dkk 75 million in 10 early-stage life science companies. this year, epitherapeutics, the flagship in the seeds? portfolio, was acquired by the us biotech company, gilead, and
novo
seeds made its first venture into industrial biotech with the investment in biosyntia.
novo
assists the
novo
nordisk foundation in a pre-seed programme that aims to identify and support academic research with commercial potential. in
2015
, seven projects received grants from the pre-seed programme. financial
investments
2015
was another good year for
novo
?s financial
investments
. the main purpose of these
investments
is to spread
novo
?s financial risk and, at the same time, maintain a substantial liquid financial reserve. in
2015
, we continued the consolidation of our global financial portfolio. we expanded the scope of the financial
investments
to include larger direct
investments
in selected danish companies, which resulted in two new
investments
: dkk 1,674 million in flsmidth & co. a/s and dkk 1,689 million in dades a/s. in
2015
, our portfolio of financial
investments
yielded a return of 10.5% and reached an accumulated value of dkk 38 billion.
novo
?s organisation in
2015
, two of our top managers stepped down. s�ren carlsen, managing partner of
novo
ventures and
novo
seeds, retired after 36 years in the
novo
group. thomas dyrberg took his place as managing partner of
novo
ventures. thorkil kastberg christensen,
novo
?s cfo since 2003, retired after more than 37 years in the
novo
group; he was succeeded by bjarne graven larsen, former ceo of fih erhvervsbank, who, however, terminated his tenure by the end of the year. finally, michael shalmi was appointed head of large
investments
. 16 new colleagues joined the
novo
team this year; 10 of these moved into newly created positions and four replaced colleagues who had taken employment elsewhere.
2015
in brief 300 200 100 0 development in assets (dkk billion) 2014
2015
shares in
novo
nordisk a/s shares in nnit a/s financial
investments
life science
investments
shares in
novo
zymes a/s
novo
a/s 6
2015
in brief
investments-novo-2015-7.html
