Novo Holdings A/S Explained

Novo Holdings A/S
Type:	Private limited company
Key People:	Kasim Kutay(CEO) Lars Rebien Sørensen(Chairman)
Industry:	Life Sciences Asset management
Services:	Investments in Life Science
Assets:	DKK 1,114 billion (2023) Approx. $163 billion (2023)
Subsid:	Novo Nordisk A/S Novozymes A/S
Foundation:	1999
Location City:	Hellerup
Location Country:	Denmark

Novo Holdings A/S (formerly Novo A/S)^[1] is the Novo Nordisk Foundation's wholly owned holding company for Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S. Novo Holdings A/S was established in 1999 and manages the Novo Nordisk Foundation's assets, which in 2023 was worth almost DKK 1,114 billion^{[2] [3] [4]} Danish Kroner (approximately US$163 billion). The company generated a total income and investment return of DKK 31 billion in 2023.^[5]

It is the largest charitable foundation in the world making Novo Holdings A/S a world-leading life sciences investor.^[6] Novo Holdings A/S is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with offices in San Francisco, Boston and Singapore.

Eivind Kolding succeeded Henrik Gürtler as CEO on 1 May 2014.^[7] Eivind Kolding left Novo Holdings A/S in March 2016 and Kasim Kutay took over as CEO for the organisation.^[8]

Purpose

Novo Holdings A/S manages the Novo Nordisk Foundation's assets, aiming to enable and make a positive impact on health, science and society by generating long-term returns on the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which the Novo Nordisk Foundation in return can award as grants for scientific research and humanitarian and social purposes.^{[9] [10] [11]}

The overall purpose of Novo Holdings A/S is to hold the position as the controlling majority shareholder of the Novo Group companies (Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S), aiming at making a positive impact on health, science and society by generating long-term returns on the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.^[12] The Novo Nordisk Foundation is an enterprise foundation which is a self-governing entity with no owners, focusing on long-term ownership of the Novo Group (Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S) while combining business and philanthropy within scientific, humanitarian and social purposes. A key task of Novo Holdings A/S is to act as a stable basis for the commercial activities of Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S. Novo Holdings A/S also invests in both financial assets and in companies with application-oriented research in the life sciences.

Objectives

Novo Holdings A/S' objective is to grow the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. In addition to investing in equity and fixed income securities, Novo Holdings pursues direct investments in life science companies. The Novo Nordisk Foundations share of financial returns generated from investments are added to the Novo Nordisk Foundation endowment and later distributed through charitable grants and awards aiming to improve the lives of people, science and society around the world.

Novo Holdings A/S is recognised as a leading international life science investor focusing on creating long-term value. Besides from being the controlling shareholder in the Novo Group companies (including Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S),^[13] Novo Holdings also provides seed and venture capital to companies in the development-stage.

Novo Holdings also takes on significant ownership in growth and well-established companies and manages a broad portfolio of diversified financial assets.

Increased focus on industrial Biosolutions

In 2021–2022, Novo Holdings have announced an increased investment focusing on Biosolutions (also known under the term bioindustrials or biotechnologies within the healthcare and environmental spaces), aiming to make biotechnology a spearhead for the green transition.^[14] Novo Holdings claim that the ambition is "to help remove the roadblocks wherever they are, paving the way for promising biologic discoveries to become new solutions".^[14]

In 2021, Novo Holdings added numerous biotechnology companies to its portfolio, including 21st. BIO, which helps other biotechnology companies scale up production through an advanced technology platform.^[15]

These diverse investments include companies supplying climate-neutral cement, biopesticides, synthetic silk biopolymers and many other products and solutions that challenge current conventions. Novo Holdings added eight bioindustrial companies to its portfolio in 2021 and invested approx. €98 million ($97.35 million) in total in the bioindustrial space.

Investment profile

In 2021, the Novo Holdings portfolio focusing on Life Science Investment (Novo Seeds, Novo Growth, Novo Ventures and Novo Principal Investments^[16]) made up 52% of the total portfolio while the Novo Capital Investors made up the remaining 48% of the total portfolio. The Life Science Investment portfolio and Novo Capital Investors generated returns of approximately DKK 12 billion ($1.6 billion) in 2021.^[17]

• Novo Holding A/S's most common sectors for investment are life sciences (38%) and diversified (13%).
• Novo Holding A/S's most common investment types are secondary buyouts (75%) and recapitalisation (13%).
• Novo Holdings A/S has invested in three US states and five different countries.
• Novo Holdings A/S' most common type of exit is secondary buyout (100%).
• Novo Holding A/S's largest (disclosed) investment was in 2013; the acquisition of Xellia Pharmaceuticals A/S for $700 million.^{[18] [19]}
• Novo Holdings A/S' largest (disclosed) exit was in 2021 when Unchained Labs was sold to The Carlyle Group for $435 million.^{[20] [21] [22]}

Novo Group

The Novo Group comprises Novo Holdings A/S, Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S. Novo Holdings A/S owns more than 25% of the ordinary share capital of Novo Nordisk A/S and controls more than 70% of the votes through its ownership of all the preferred (A) shares, which are not traded. The Group's main purpose is to manage the financial assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation to ensure an adequate financial return to cover the Foundation's investments and grants for scientific, humanitarian and social purposes and projects in the Nordic countries and the rest of the world. The Group achieves this by investing in life science companies in Europe and North America. The Novo Group also invests in a portfolio of financial assets.^[23]

Senior management

In 2014, Henrik Gürtler stepped down as CEO after serving in the position since the company was established in 1999. He was replaced by Eivind Kolding, previously the CEO of Danske Bank.^[24] On 29 February 2016, Eivind Kolding was dismissed as CEO of Novo A/S after 2 years in the post. He was temporarily replaced until June 2016 by Sten Scheibye, Chair of the Board of Directors. His successor as CEO of Novo Holdings A/S is Kasim Kutay,^[25] a British citizen who previously worked for investment banks Morgan Stanley and Moelis & Company.

• Kasim Kutay (CEO), 2016 – current
• Sten Scheibye (chairman and interim CEO), March 2016 – June 2018
• Eivind Kolding, 2014 – 2016
• Henrik Gürtler, 1999 – 2014

Board of directors

The Board of Directors of Novo Holdings A/S comprises six members (as of December 2018):^{[26] [27] [28]}

• Lars Rebien Sørensen (Chairman), July 2018 - current
• Steen Riisgaard (Vice Chairman)
• Viviane Monges
• Francis Michael Cyprian Cuss
• Jeppe Fonager Christiansen
• Jean-Luc Butel
• Britt Meelby Jensen
• Henrik Poulsen

REPAIR Impact Fund

In February 2018, Novo Holdings announces the establishment of an impact fund commissioned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation with a total initial budget of US$165 million to invest in companies involved in discovering and early-stage development of therapies to combat antimicrobial resistance.^[29]

According to CEO Kasim Kutay, Novo Holdings are looking to increase this type of investments in global healthcare challenges: “We are looking to increase investments of this type in the coming years, and we are excited about our potential to make a significant difference in improving global healthcare”.^[30]

REPAIR is an acronym for: Replenishing and Enabling the Pipeline for Anti-Infective Resistance.^[31]

Investments

In addition to the Novo Group, Novo Holdings A/S owns major stakes in several Danish companies, including the Xellia Group, Sonion and Chr. Hansen Holdings A/S. By the beginning of 2018 Novo Holdings A/S had a portfolio of 85 listed and unlisted Life Science companies in Europe and North America.

Novo Holdings A/S invests mainly in companies that develop, manufacture or sell medicine, new treatment methods or medical or health-related equipment.^[32] At the end of 2017, Novo Holdings A/S had allocated nearly DKK 38 billion for investment in portfolios in Large Investments, Ventures and Seeds of DKK 31.5 billion, DKK 5.9 billion and DKK 291 million, respectively.^[33]

• In April 2021, Novo Holdings made its first investment in an Asia-based company, Halodoc.^[34]
• In May 2013, Novo Holdings acquired all shares in the pharmaceutical company Xellia.^[35]
• In July 2014, Novo Holdings acquired all shares in Sonion, a manufacturer of components for the hearing aid industry.^[36]
• In March 2017, Novo Holdings acquired 20 percent of the shares in the UK listed company Convatec with Kasim Kutay, CEO of Novo Holdings A/S, joining the Board of Directors.^[37]
• In February 2024, Novo Holdings A/S agreed to acquire Catalent for $16.5billion. On completion, Novo Nordisk would acquire three manufacturing facilities from parent Novo Holdings for $11billion to scale up production to meet the demand of its obesity and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic respectively.^{[38] [39]}

List of all investments^{[40] [41]}

Company	Investment area	Region	Date
Oxford Nanopore Technologies	Growth Investments	Europe	August 2024
MATR Foods	Planetary Health Investments	Europe	July 2024
Sejet Plant Breeding (Sejet)	Planetary Health Investments	Europe	June 2024
CIRCTEC	Planetary Health Investments	Europe	May 2024
Cleveland Diagnostics	Growth Investments	North America	January 2024
Reunion Neuroscience	Venture Investments	North America	May 2024
REDUCED	Planetary Health Investments	Europe	April 2024
Pureos Bioventures II	Venture Investments	Europe	July 2023
Site One	Venture Investments	North America	January 2024
OnCusp	Venture Investments	North America	December 2023
ManaT	Venture Investments	North America	October 2023
Hillstar Bio	Venture Investments	North America	August 2023
Manipal Hospitals	Uncategorised	Asia	February 2024
Nalu Medical	Venture Investments	North America	January 2024
LePure		Asia	January 2023
MedGenome		Asia	August 2022
Sangon Biotech		Asia	August 2023
Paratek Pharmaceuticals	Planetary Health Investments	Europe	September 2023
LimmaTech Biologics	Seed Investments	Europe	October 2023
MapLight Therapeutics	Venture Investments	North America	October 2023
Terremoto Biosciences	Venture Investments	North America	November 2023
ROSLIN TECHNOLOGIES	Planetary Health Investments	Europe	November 2023
Euroclear	Capital Investments	Europe	September 2023
HPNow	Planetary Health Investments	Europe	September 2023
Glentra	Capital Investments	Europe	September 2023
Ellab	Principal Investments	Europe	September 2023
Octave	Venture Investments	North America	May 2023
Commit Biologics	Seed Investments	Europe	April 2023
Noom	Venture Investments	North America	April 2023
Ray Therapeutics	Venture Investments	North America	April 2023
Alentis Therapeutics	Venture Investments	Europe	March 2023
Aquafortus	Planetary Health Investments	VALUE!	February 2023
FIRE1	Venture Investments	Europe	February 2023
Hemab Therapeutics	Seed Investments	Europe	January 2023
Evosep	Growth Investments	Europe	January 2023
iECURE	Venture Investments	North America	November 2022
KabaFusion	Principal Investments	North America	November 2022
Breye Therapeutics	Seed Investments	Europe	October 2022
Kate Farms	Planetary Health Investments	North America	September 2022
Riva Therapeutics	Venture Investments	North America	June 2022
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange	Capital Investments	Europe	August 2018
Invisio	Capital Investments	Europe	August 2016
Deep 6 AI	Venture Investments	North America	April 2022
Elo Life Systems	Planetary Health Investments	North America	April 2022
Engimmune Therapeutics	Seed Investments	Europe	April 2022
Invetx	Planetary Health Investments	North America	April 2022
Nuvig Therapeutics	Venture Investments	North America	April 2022
Qure.ai		Asia	March 2022
Metagenomi	Venture Investments	North America	January 2022
Rondo Therapeutics	Venture Investments	North America	January 2022
Ritedose	Principal Investments	North America	January 2022
Medical Knowledge Group	Principal Investments	North America	December 2021
Verana Health	Growth Investments	North America	December 2021
21st.BIO	Planetary Health Investments	Europe	November 2021
Asgard Therapeutics	Seed Investments	Europe	October 2021
Clever Care Health Plan	Venture Investments	North America	October 2021
BIOMILQ	Planetary Health Investments	North America	October 2021
Jernbanebyen	Capital Investments	Europe	September 2021
Doctor Anywhere	Uncategorised	Asia	August 2021
Availity	Principal Investments	North America	July 2021
Genomatica	Planetary Health Investments	North America	June 2021
Muna Therapeutics	Seed Investments	Europe	June 2021
BBI Solutions	Principal Investments	Europe	August 2021
Quanta	Growth Investments	Europe	May 2021
Tribune Therapeutics	Seed Investments	Europe	May 2021
AMSilk	Planetary Health Investments	Europe	April 2021
Esco		Asia	April 2021
Hummingbird	Venture Investments	Asia	April 2021
Numab	Venture Investments	Europe	April 2021
Adcendo	Seed Investments	Europe	March 2021
Bactolife	Planetary Health Investments	Europe	March 2021
Halodoc	Uncategorised	Asia	March 2021
Renewable Energy Partnership	Capital Investments	Europe	March 2021
Deep Branch	Planetary Health Investments	Europe	February 2021
BGV	Venture Investments	Europe	December 2020
Orbis Medicines	Seed Investments	Europe	November 2020
ZELP	Planetary Health Investments	Europe	November 2020
The Protein Brewery	Planetary Health Investments	Europe	October 2020
Rappta Therapeutics	Seed Investments	Europe	August 2020
Lava Therapeutics	Venture Investments	Europe	July 2020
Mission Bio	Growth Investments	North America	July 2020
NREP	Capital Investments	Europe	July 2020
Chromologics	Planetary Health Investments	Europe	June 2020
NodThera	Venture Investments	North America	May 2020
Exscientia	Growth Investments	Europe	April 2020
Biomason	Planetary Health Investments	North America	November 2019
Allievex Corporation	Venture Investments	North America	September 2019
LanzaTech	Planetary Health Investments	North America	July 2019
Glycomine	Venture Investments	North America	July 2019
Amolyt Pharma	Venture Investments	Europe	June 2019
Edgewise Therapeutics	Venture Investments	North America	June 2019
Claris Bio	Venture Investments	North America	May 2019
Vestaron	Planetary Health Investments	North America	May 2019
MycoWorks	Planetary Health Investments	North America	April 2019
Oxford Biomedica	Growth Investments	Europe	April 2019
Swift Health Systems / Inbrace	Venture Investments	North America	April 2019
Tempus	Growth Investments	North America	April 2019
Anthos Therapeutics	Venture Investments	North America	December 2018
Mirum Pharmaceuticals	Venture Investments	North America	October 2018
Precirix	Seed Investments	Europe	October 2018
Draupnir Bio	Seed Investments	Europe	September 2018
NorthSea Therapeutics	Seed Investments	Europe	November 2017
Antag Therapeutics	Seed Investments	Europe	April 2017
Avalyn	Venture Investments	North America	February 2017
ConvaTec	Principal Investments	Europe	February 2017
Evotec	Principal Investments	Europe	January 2017
Hoba Therapeutics	Seed Investments	Europe	November 2016
HepaRegeniX	Seed Investments	Europe	October 2016
CorWave	Seed Investments	Europe	September 2016
F2G Limited	Venture Investments	Europe	May 2016
Inspirna	Venture Investments	North America	May 2016
NMD Pharma	Seed Investments	Europe	May 2016
Spruce Biosciences	Venture Investments	North America	March 2016
Synlab	Principal Investments	Europe	January 2016
DADES	Capital Investments	Europe	June 2015
Biosyntia	Planetary Health Investments	Europe	December 2014
Sonion	Principal Investments	Europe	September 2014
Anokion	Venture Investments	Europe	February 2014
IO Biotech	Seed Investments	Europe	December 2013
Xellia Pharmaceuticals	Principal Investments	Europe	April 2013
Reapplix	Seed Investments	Europe	December 2012
Chr. Hansen	Principal Investments	Europe	December 2011
Galecto Biotech	Seed Investments	Europe	October 2011
Acesion Pharma	Seed Investments	Europe	December 2010
Orexo	Principal Investments	Europe	March 2010

Notes and References

1. Web site: Novo A/S renamed Novo Holdings A/S. 2017-06-23 . 2017-10-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171018134237/http://www.novoholdings.dk/news-archive?field_date%5Bmin%5D=1483228801&field_date%5Bmax%5D=1514764799#1097 . dead .
2. Web site: Holdings . Novo . Novo Holdings reports Total Income and Investment Returns of DKK 31 billion (€4.2 billion) for 2023. Total Assets grow by 38% to DKK 1,114 billion (€149 billion) . 2024-03-12 . www.prnewswire.com . en.
3. Web site: Novo Holdings reports Total Income and Investment Returns of DKK 31 billion (€4.2 billion) for 2023. Total Assets grow by 38% to DKK 1,114 billion (€149 billion) . 2024-03-12 . Novo Holdings . en.
4. Novo Holdings 2023 Performance Report: https://assets.novoholdings.dk/f/228216/x/d054b2acb5/novo-holdings-performance-report-2023.pdf
5. Novo Holdings annual report 2023: https://assets.novoholdings.dk/novo-holdings-2023-performance-report.pdf
6. Web site: Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen & Kasim Kutay . 2022-10-27 . The OECD Forum Network . en.
7. News: 23 January 2014 . Eivind Kolding bliver direktør for Novo A/S . Danish . Berlingske.dk . 2014-07-17.
8. Web site: 21 June 2016 . Novos pengetank får ny topchef . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20161107012731/http://borsen.dk/nyheder/virksomheder/artikel/1/326688/novos_pengetank_faar_ny_topchef.html . 7 November 2016 . 6 November 2016.
9. Web site: Home . 2022-10-27 . Novo Holdings . en.
10. Web site: Novo Holdings A/S Mergers and Acquisitions Summary Mergr . 2022-10-27 . mergr.com.
11. Web site: Novo Holdings reports Total Income and Returns of DKK 37 billion (€5 billion) in 2021, representing a 29% increase over 2020 . 2022-10-27 . finance.yahoo.com . en-US.
12. Novo Holdings website: What We Do.

    https://www.novoholdings.dk/

13. Web site: Design . Mastafu . Novo Holdings A/S DANISH BIO – DANSK BIOTEK . 2022-10-27 . da.
14. Web site: Responsible Investments . 2022-11-06 . Novo Holdings . en.
15. Web site: Record year for industrial biotechnology grants and investments . 2022-11-06 . finance.yahoo.com . en-US.
16. Web site: Investments . www.novoholdings.dk.
17. 2021 Annual Report: https://www.novoholdings.dk/wp-content/uploads/Novo-Holdings-Annual-Report-2021.pdf
18. Novo A/S Acquires Xellia . 2022-10-27 . Xellia Pharmaceuticals . en.
19. Web site: Levin . Jennifer . 2013-05-21 . Novo A/S acquires Xellia Pharmaceuticals for US$ 700 million . 2022-10-27 . Fierce Pharma . en.
20. News: 2021-04-26 . Carlyle to acquire Unchained Labs for $435 million . en . Reuters . 2022-10-27.
21. Unchained Labs . The Carlyle Group to Acquire Rapidly Growing Life Sciences Tools Company Unchained Labs . 2022-10-27 . www.prnewswire.com . en.
22. The Carlyle Group to Acquire Rapidly Growing Life Sciences Tools Company Unchained Labs Carlyle . 2022-10-27 . www.carlyle.com.
23. Web site: Ownership and subsidiaries | Novo Nordisk Fonden . 2018-03-16 . 2018-03-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180308042546/http://novonordiskfonden.dk/en/content/ownership-and-subsidiaries . dead .
24. Web site: Eivind Kolding bliver direktør for Novo A/S. www.business.dk. 23 January 2014.
25. Web site: After ousting former CEO, Novo A/S puts Kutay in charge of $57B investment vehicle. www.fiercebiotech.com. 22 June 2016 .
26. Web site: Novo Holdings prepares for major US offensive. medwatch.dk. 4 October 2017.
27. Web site: Leadership. www.novoholdings.dk.
28. Web site: CVR - Det Centrale Virksomhedsregister. datacvr.virk.dk.
29. News: Novo Holdings launches $165 MLN 'superbug' drug venture fund. Reuters. 28 February 2018.
30. Web site: Novo Holdings launches €135m fund to combat antimicrobial resistance. european-biotechnology.com.
31. Web site: Home. REPAIR Impact Fund.
32. Web site: Stocks . .
33. Web site: Novo a/S annual report 2016. 2016.novo.dk.
34. Web site: Novo Holdings makes its first investment in an Asian health tech company. Mette. Larsen. April 23, 2021. scandasia.com.
35. Web site: Novo køber norsk biotekselskab for fire milliarder kroner. 21 May 2013. ing.dk. Danish. 2014-07-17.
36. Web site: Novo betaler op mod 4 milliarder kroner for Sonion. 15 July 2014. Berlingske. Danish. 2014-07-17.
37. Web site: Novo to buy 20% stake in UK's ConvaTec. www.pharmatimes.com. 29 March 2017.
38. News: Gilbert . Daniel . 2024-02-05 . Novo Nordisk buys manufacturing power as it seeks to ramp up Wegovy . The Washington Post.
39. Web site: Constantino . Annika Kim . 2024-02-05 . Novo Nordisk parent to buy Catalent for $16.5 billion to expand Wegovy supply . CNBC.
40. Web site: Novo Holdings · Investments. Novo Holdings.
41. Web site: Novo Holdings · Investments . 2024-08-26 . Novo Holdings . en.