RA Capital Management explained

RA Capital Management, L.P.
Type:Private
Industry:Financial services
Founders:Richard Aldrich
Peter Kolchinsky
Location:Berkeley Building, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Key People:Peter Kolchinsky (Managing Partner)
Rajeev Shah (Managing Partner)
Aum:US$9.65 billion (March 2023)
Num Employees:122 (March 2023)
Products:Hedge fund
Venture capital
Private equity
Footnotes:[1]

RA Capital Management (RA Capital) is an American investment firm based in Boston. It is focused on making public and private investments in the Healthcare and Biotechnology industries.

Background

RA Capital was founded in January 2002 by Richard Aldrich and Peter Kolchinsky. Aldrich was the chief business officer Vertex Pharmaceuticals who left to set up his own company. He invited Kolchinsky, a PhD student at Harvard University to join him due his technical expertise. The firm's name comes from the initials of Richard Aldrich.[2] [3] [4]

The firm was initially set up as hedge fund that invested in public companies although it would later invest in private companies as well. RA Capital has an in-house research group, named TechAtlas that creates its disease-specific maps.[5]

One of the firm's earliest successful investments was its investment into Triangle Pharmaceuticals which Gilead Sciences acquired for $464 million in early 2003.

Aldrich left RA Capital in 2009 to start Longwood Fund, a venture capital firm although he still remains an investor in RA Capital.

In 2009, RA Capital assets fell by 35.3% due to its large investment in Sequenom which lost 90% of its market value after it admitted it had falsified data on its tests for Down syndrome treatment. As a result, the firm limited individual investments to 15% of the firm's assets.[6]

The firm made one of its first private investments in 2010 when it participated in a $15 million series C round for T2 Biosystems.

As of 2015, the firm has delivered an annualized return of 28.4% since its founding.

In 2019, the firm launched its first venture fund, RA Capital Nexus Fund I which raised $300 million.[7]

SEC fine

In September 2014, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced it had sanctioned nineteen firms that illegally participated in stock offerings less than five days after short selling the stock. RA Capital was one of the firms and agreed to pay the largest amount out of them with disgorgement of $2.65 million, interest of $73,000 and a $905,000 penalty.[8]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Form ADV . SEC.
  2. Web site: January 4, 2016 . Investing in the Health Care Revolution . May 19, 2023 . Institutional Investor . en-gb.
  3. Web site: Edelson . Steve . February 22, 2016 . BioCentury . RA Capital.
  4. Web site: Shari . Michael . Stocks Picks From a Top Biotech Hedge Fund . May 19, 2023 . online.barrons.com . en-US.
  5. Web site: Peter Kolchinsky and Raj Shah's RA Capital has $461M more to play with, after 'rapid' investment in the last 15 months . May 19, 2023 . Endpoints News . en.
  6. Web site: Huckman . Mike . April 30, 2009 . The Sequenom Syndrome . May 19, 2023 . www.cnbc.com.
  7. Web site: RA Capital Closes $461 Million Investment Fund Aimed at Life Sciences Companies . May 19, 2023 . BioSpace . en-US.
  8. Web site: Baert . Rick . September 16, 2014 . SEC settles with BlackRock, others over trading infractions . May 19, 2023 . Pensions & Investments . en.