Merrion Pharma raises €5M ahead of 2007 float

6/04/06 - Irish Independent

Ailish O'Hora  

Dublin drugmaker Merrion Pharma has raised €5M in funding ahead of a dual stock market floatation in Dublin and London scheduled for the first quarter of 2007.  The company which focuses on new formulations for existing drugs and is backed by Tony Ryan's family investment vehicle Irelandia, will list on secondary markets - Dublin's IEX and AIM in London.  The recent funding was through Goodbody Stockbrokers.

Merrion is currently developing two new cancer products in multi-billion euro markets - they are oral versions of drugs that can only be injected at present. The company was spun out of Elan two years ago and has also received backing through Growcorp, European Bioscience Fund and Enterprise Ireland.

It has bases in Dublin and the US and is headed up by Michael McKenna, who has 30 years experience in the drugs market. For example, the number of IPOs on London's AIM market has grown consistently since 2003, when there were just under 200 offerings, to over 500 in 2005.According to Mr O'Donovan, while the technology market is continuing to grow since the technology bust in 2000, there are still difficulties for smaller Irish firms looking for seed capital and early stage funding because many venture capital funds are risk-averse.

"There is a gap in the market for firms looking to raise between €500,000 and €1M," he said yesterday. "When it comes to funding of between €3M and €10M, there are a lot of VCs around." He added that, in many cases, the property market has become more attractive to potential investors than technology start-ups.


 
 
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