LONDON, 18 December 2020: Arix Bioscience plc (“Arix”, LSE: ARIX), a global venture capital company focused on investing in and building breakthrough biotech companies, today announces the completion of the previously announced sale of its portfolio company VelosBio Inc. (“VelosBio”), to Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth NJ., USA, for final all cash consideration of $2.75 billion.

The trade sale of VelosBio generates gross proceeds of $187.0 million (£138.5 million)[1] to Arix, representing a 12.5x return on its original investment of $15.0 million (£11.8 million) and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 328%.

The tax treatment of this transaction will be detailed within Arix’s 2020 Annual Report and Accounts, to be published in March 2021.

[1] At GBP/USD FX rate of 1.3500