2023-07-18 16:43:00
Even if it means hackneying a reference to Magritte: This is not Steve Jobs! But it’s hard not to see a strong resemblance (turtleneck sweater, small glasses, minimalist haircut) between the former Apple boss and Tim van Hauwermeiren, the CEO of Argenx, which is now worth 25 billion. euros on the stock market. We are far from Apple’s 3,000 billion but it is already a great success for the biotech from Ghent, which saw its price soar on Monday thanks to promising clinical trial results, before being suspended this Tuesday for fundraising reasons. A surge that enabled it to turn around the Bel 20 single-handedly and become Europe’s leading biotech in terms of capitalization.
A graduate of Ghent University and the Vlerick Business School, Tim Van Hauwermeiren, in his fifties, first hung out at Procter&Gamble before joining the pharmaceutical industry by offering his services to Ablynx between 2003 and 2008. Then, the man co-founded Argenx in 2008 and is its CEO.
He describes himself as a pragmatic, dynamic “life-science entrepreneur”, specialized in strategy implementation and research and development (R&D) operations. He is the head of an “international company committed to improving the lives of people suffering from severe autoimmune diseases”, as the company describes itself in a press release, when it announced on Tuesday the launch of a global offer of approximately 750 million dollars in ordinary shares (approximately 668.6 million euros).
”The global offer will include an offer of ordinary shares represented by ADS (American Depository Shares, securities of non-American companies but made available to US investors, Editor’s note) in the United States and in certain other countries outside of European Economic Area […], as well as a concurrent private placement of ordinary shares in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom,” the company said. Either, understand that the fundraising has forced the suspension of listing in Brussels but it should resume once the fundraising is complete. As a reminder, the title had reached 437.60 euros at the close on Monday, following a 30% surge.
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