Project Challenge:
An early stage investor was in the midst of setting up a NewCo for the research and development of novel treatments using a fairly under-researched area of cell biology. However, a separate technology from one of the investor's portfolio companies was required for some characterization work in NewCo. Given our client is a significant shareholder in both companies, they found themselves in a conflicted position with regards to developing objective benchmarks for a licensing deal. Alacrita was therefore called upon to develop relevant deal benchmarks, as well as appraise a draft term sheet for an arms length agreement between the two companies.
Project Solution:
Over the years, Alacrita has been involved in numerous deals and so our experience tells us that deals for early stage technologies are highly variable and very much dependent on the specifics of the technology and its use. We therefore took a two-pronged approach to find benchmark deals analogous to the situation between the two companies:
- Searching proprietary deals databases; and
- Providing anonymized terms from early stage deals that we have been involved in. For this part of the work, Alacrita drew from the expertise of three highly-regarded business development consultants.
Using the information gathered, we appraised the deal structure, terms and value in the draft term sheet, providing our recommendations on a deal we viewed to be fair to both parties given our clients shareholding in both companies.
Licensing and Deal-making Support
Alacrita frequently support clients with both in-licensing and out-licensing, across a range of disease areas and technologies. Our approach is flexible and can be tailored to mesh seamlessly with our clients' internal capabilities and activities. For those, looking for more extensive support, we can also take on full responsibility for out-licensing mandates.
Click here for more information on our licensing and deal-making expertise. Back