Amgen discloses more than $400 million stake in recent IPO Neumora Therapeutics

By Tomi Kilgore

The value of Amgen's stake in the biotech, which it first acquired two years ago, has tripled

Amgen Inc.'s disclosure Wednesday of a large stake in Neumora Therapeutics Inc. indicates that the value of its investment in the biopharmaceutical company, which recently went public, has tripled.

Amgen (AMGN) said in a 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it owns 35.4 million shares of Neumora (NMRA), or 23.2% of the shares outstanding.

The 13D said Amgen's investment started with the purchase of preferred shares for about $110 million and the grant of certain exclusive license rights, which was announced by the company's in October 2021.

As Neumora's initial public offering closed on Sept. 19, the preferred shares were converted to 33.6 million shares of Neumora common stock. Amgen spent an additional $30 million to buy about 1.8 million common shares on Sept. 19, at the IPO price of $17.

That means Amgen has spent about $140 million to acquire its Neumora stake. Based on Tuesday's closing price $11.71 for Neumora's stock, Amgen's stake was worth $414.2 million, or 195.8% more than what the company spent.

It would be worth a lot more if Neumora's stock didn't immediately sell off after the IPO.

The stock closed its first day of trading on Sept. 15 at $16.25, or 4.4% below its IPO price. It closed as low as $10.13, or 40.4% below the IPO price, on Sept. 20 before bouncing over the past four sessions.

Neumora's market capitalization was about $1.8 billion at Tuesday's close, according to FactSet, compared with a valuation of about $2.6 billion at the IPO price.

Neumora's stock was indicated up more than 2% in premarket trading Wednesday, while Amgen shares edged up 0.3%.

Over the past three months, Amgen's stock has run up 20.9% through Tuesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, of which Amgen is a component, has slipped 0.9%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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09-27-23 0836ET

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