Malin invests $35m in Melinta in first post-IPO asset

Malin, an Irish-based company set up by a number of former Elan executives to invest in privately held life science assets, has invested $35 million and committed to invest a further $10 million in Melinta Therapeutics.

The announcement marks Malin’s first new asset following its stock exchange debut earlier this year and brings the number of operating assets within the group to eight.

Melinta Therapeutics is a private company developing novel antibiotics to treat bacterial infections. Malin has joined founding investors, Vatera Healthcare Partners, and other existing investors in a Series 4 funding round of up to $67 million.

"We are delighted to lead this financing round which will help Melinta's first class management team complete phase 3 development of its innovative antibiotic, delafloxacin, later this year and to develop and progress its strong and differentiated multiple product pipeline targeting drug-resistant pathogens in infectious diseases," said Sean Murphy, Malin board director appointee to the Melinta board.

“This transaction enables Malin investors to gain access to another high quality, privately held, late-stage life science asset with strong foundational science and a deep discovery platform,” Under the terms of the transaction, Malin invested $35 million for a minority shareholding of Melinta with a commitment to invest a further $10 million which is callable by Melinta within 12 months.,” he added.

Under the terms of the transaction, Malin invested $35 million for a minority shareholding of Melinta with a commitment to invest a further $10 million which is callable by Melinta within 12 months.

"We are delighted to welcome a high quality, long-term life science investor of the calibre of Malin to Melinta Therapeutics. We will use the capital raised in this funding round to fund our operations through a number of key milestones, including our first US regulatory submission for delafloxacin, which we believe holds great promise for a therapeutic solution to the global health crisis of increasingly resistant bacterial infections," said Melinta chief executive Mary Szela.

Malin raised €330 million in one of the largest life science IPOs ever to take place in Europe in March. Former Elan chief executive Kelly Martin and chairman Bob Ingram, who sold the Irish stock market stalwart to Perrigo for $8.6 billion in 2013, are among those on the Malin board.

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), a government fund aimed at supporting economic activity and employment in Ireland, is a 15 per cent shareholder in the company, having invested €50m in Malin's IPO.