Hong Kong-based healthcare fund manager ORI Capital has agreed to sell its investment in Kymab, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, to Sanofi.

The French pharmaceutical group will pay US$1.1 billion upfront, and up to US$350 million upon achievement of certain milestones, to Kymab’s exiting shareholders. The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of 2021.

Kymab is ORI Healthcare Fund I’s largest investment. ORI Fund I, together with Hepalink Pharmaceutical, led Kymab’s Series C preferred shares financing round in November 2016. ORI Fund I also made follow-on investments in Kymab in 2019 and 2020.

Comments Simone Song, founder and senior partner of ORI Capital: “This successful divestment is an important milestone for ORI Fund I, with an exit multiple achieved of 2.88x. We are delighted to see the recognition of Kymab’s excellence by Sanofi and look forward to seeing patients benefit from potential first-in-class treatments for a range of immune and inflammatory diseases.”

Founded in the United Kingdom in 2010, Kymab is developing fully human monoclonal antibody therapeutics with a focus on immune mediated diseases and immuno-oncology using its proprietary, integrated platforms collectively called IntelliSelect.

Kymab’s IntelliSelect Transgenic platforms contain a full diversity of human antibodies, making them the most comprehensive antibody platforms available. Selecting from diverse human antibodies assures the highest probability of finding drug candidates with best-in-class characteristics quickly and efficiently.

The deal gives full rights to Kymab’s KY1005, antibody therapy, which has the potential to treat a wide range of inflammatory disorders and immune-related diseases, as well as KY1044, a cancer treatment currently in Phases I and II clinical development.

Meanwhile, ORI Capital also announced the first close of its ORI Healthcare Fund II, which will focus on innovative companies in the therapeutics, drug delivery and diagnostics areas that address major diseases or diseases with high mortality rates. ORI Fund II has a target fund size of US$400 million.