State set for windfall as Malin completes €140m share buyback

Darragh Lyons, CEO of Malin

Caoimhe Gordon

The State will receive another cash windfall from its investment in Irish firm Malin as the life sciences investment company announced today that it had completed a €140m share buyback scheme.

In February, the company proposed to return up to €140m to shareholders via a tender offer.

Malin reported today that the tender offer was oversubscribed, with over 15 million ordinary shares offered for tender. The acquisition of shares closed yesterday, with shareholders expected to receive their cheques no later than April 3.

This represents around 44.25pc of the issued ordinary share capital of the investment firm and is also the largest capital distribution listing on the Irish Stock Exchange since 2015.

Under the offer, shareholders were invited to tender some or all of their ordinary shares at €9.30 per ordinary share, although those who qualified for participation were not required to tender any of their shares in the company.

The state-owned Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) holds an 11.32pc stake in Malin and looks to receive €15.85m if it took up its full allotment in the transaction

The capital return programme is the second such transaction completed by Malin in recent years following a similar deal worth €80m that was completed in December 2021.

“This return of capital follows the divestment of our entire stake in [UK biotechnology company] Immunocore which generated cash proceeds of approximately €145m and other inflows from our investee companies of approximately €21m during 2022,” chairman Liam Daniel said last month.

“Our cash balance of approximately €33m following the completion of the tender offer will be used to fund the company's operations, including possible proposed tender offer investments into Malin's existing assets if strategically or financially attractive investment opportunities arise."