Mubadala Acquires €200 Million Shares in German Pharmaceutical

Evotec has continuously expanded its operations internationally. WAM
Evotec has continuously expanded its operations internationally. WAM
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Mubadala Acquires €200 Million Shares in German Pharmaceutical

Evotec has continuously expanded its operations internationally. WAM
Evotec has continuously expanded its operations internationally. WAM

Mubadala Investment Company has announced that it is pumping 200 million euros into Evotec SE, a German pharmaceutical company that specializes in drug discovery solutions.

Evotec SE said that it resolved a capital increase from its authorized capital without pre-emptive rights against cash. Evotec will issue a total of 11,478,298 new shares to Mubadala Investment Company and Novo Holdings A/S, increasing Evotec’s cash reserves by €250 million in total.

In this private placement capital increase, Mubadala Investment Company, a sovereign investor with an entrepreneurial mind-set and a long-standing history of strategic investments in the healthcare sector, will invest €200 million to subscribe for approx. 5.6 % of outstanding Evotec shares.

Evotec’s existing shareholder Novo Holdings A/S also will invest €50 million to support Evotec’s accelerated growth ambition and to reinforce its ownership in the company of approx. 11.0% of outstanding shares.

Evotec has developed a unique strategy to become the global leading platform company for the modality-agnostic development of innovative first-in-class and best-in-class therapeutic approaches resulting in a large co-owned pipeline.

Evotec has continuously expanded its operations internationally with more than 3,400 employees at 14 global sites in Germany, USA, France, Italy, UK, and Austria.

By leveraging its proprietary platforms within a comprehensive network of high-value partnerships, Evotec aims to improve global access to more precise and effective medicines. Future investments will accelerate Evotec’s underlying business strategy and enable the company’s next strategic growth phase.

"We welcome Mubadala to our group of strategic investors. There is no reason for us to slow down our mission in spite of the ongoing pandemic. We can and want to grow even faster and see a lot of positive momentum in our business strategy,” said Dr. Werner Lanthaler, Chief Executive Officer of Evotec.

“We are delighted that Mubadala has chosen to invest in Evotec with a long-term view. Also, we are pleased to see that Novo Holdings A/S continues to support our strategy. This investment allows us to further accelerate our strategy to create the world-leading "R&D Autobahn to Cures" from discovery to commercial manufacturing,” Emirates News Agency (WAM) quoted him as saying.

Chief Financial Officer of Evotec Enno Spillner said that with this commitment by existing and new investors, “our liquidity reserves will total more than €500 m.”

“This placement will generate a net cash position of more than €150 m (excluding IFRS 16) with Evotec’s net-debt leverage turning negative (excluding IFRS 16). Our equity ratio will strengthen to above 50%. While maintaining our business outlook for 2020, the very positive impact of this transaction on our balance sheet structure will increase our flexibility and makes us even better prepared for our accelerated global expansion steps."



Bank of America Forecasts Three US Rate Cuts this Year

A customer uses an ATM at a Bank of America branch in Boston, Massachusetts, US, October 11, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
A customer uses an ATM at a Bank of America branch in Boston, Massachusetts, US, October 11, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
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Bank of America Forecasts Three US Rate Cuts this Year

A customer uses an ATM at a Bank of America branch in Boston, Massachusetts, US, October 11, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
A customer uses an ATM at a Bank of America branch in Boston, Massachusetts, US, October 11, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Bank of America, the most conservative among Wall Street's brokerages on the size of the Federal Reserve's expected interest rate cuts this year, has raised its forecast to match most of its peers after the recent nonfarm payrolls data.

BofA Global Research said on Sunday that it now expects the central bank to lower rates by 25 basis points (bps) in each of the three remaining policy meetings this year, compared with its previous forecast of two 25-bps cuts in September and December, according to Reuters.

The change was after data on Friday showed US employment rose less than expected in August, but a drop in the jobless rate to 4.2% suggested the labor market was not falling off the cliff to warrant a half-point rate cut this month.

BofA economists concurred, saying the hurdle for a 50-bps cut in September is high “because despite evidence of a cool labor market, layoffs remain low.”

Their latest forecast is the same as that of eight other brokerages, including Morgan Stanley and UBS Global Research, though it was not immediately clear if these brokerages would, or have already, altered their forecasts.

The jobs data had little effect on investors' bets on the size of a cut at the Fed's meeting next week. Interest rate futures signal a 70% chance of a 25 bps cut, nearly the same as last week.

Barclays and Goldman Sachs retained their call of three 25-bps cuts this year, saying the jobs data did not warrant a 50-bps cut.

Before the latest jobs data, UBS Global Wealth Management, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Wells Fargo Investment Institute had expected a 50 bps cut in September.