Braveheart nets £400,000 from sale of Biopta stake

Braveheart will receive more than £400,000 from the sale of Biopta. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

Japanese group Reprocell, a specialist in the development of stem cell technologies, is paying about £5.2 million in cash and shares for Biopta, a spin-out from Glasgow Caledonian University.

Braveheart – along with three other major Biopta shareholders – will be paid their entitlement in Reprocell shares. The Perth-based investor said it stands to receive a payment worth £406,479, compared with the £395,889 that its stake in Biopta was valued at in its accounts at the end of September.

The deal is expected to complete early next month, and neither Braveheart nor the other Biopta shareholders receiving Reprocell shares is locked in.

Braveheart said: “The proceeds of the sale of the Reprocell shares, as and when received, less a modest retention, will increase the company’s cash reserves and will be used for general working capital.”

Biopta, which employs 18 people and is led by chief executive and co-founder David Bunton, uses human tissue in pre-clinical studies for major pharmaceutical companies in Europe, Japan and North America. Other investors in the firm, founded in 2002, included Tri Cap and Scottish Enterprise’s Scottish Co-investment Fund. Accounts show the company had net assets of £236,582 as at 31 March.