Oxford Nanopore, one of Britain’s most highly valued tech start-ups, will use an “anti-takeover” structure in its upcoming IPO so it can fend off foreign bidders and become a national champion.
The company, which was spun out of Oxford university in 2005, has had a breakthrough year after its DNA sequencing technology became essential in tracking the spread of Covid-19 variants around the world. Its devices have been used in 85 countries, and about 18 per cent of all coronavirus genomes globally have been run on them.
In March it said it would list on the London market in the second half of this year, with analysts expecting it to reach a valuation of between £4bn and £7bn. Since then, it has raised a further £195m from investors including Singapore’s Temasek.
This week, the company filed for shareholder approval to give its chief executive, Gordon Sanghera, “limited anti-takeover shares” so that he can veto a hostile takeover. These shares expire after three years, and do not confer any other voting rights.
Sanghera said he was determined to…
