aibioSilence Therapeutics raises $175 million after divesiran phase 2 win
Tickers SLN
The upsized offering priced at $13.50 per ADS a day after the SANRECO results, adding to $72.1 million in cash at the end of June.
Key facts
- Company
- Silence Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ: SLN)
- News type
- Financings
- Primary source
- Silence Therapeutics
Silence Therapeutics priced an upsized underwritten public offering of 12,962,963 American depositary shares at $13.50 each on August 11, 2026, for gross proceeds of about $175 million. The London-based siRNA company had proposed a raise of about $150 million on August 10, the same day it reported phase 2 results for divesiran in polycythemia vera.
Jefferies, Morgan Stanley, Cantor and William Blair ran the books, according to the company. The underwriters got a 30-day option to buy up to 1,944,444 more ADSs, and the deal was set to close on or about August 13.
The details
Each ADS represents three ordinary shares of 5 pence each. The pricing release did not say how the money would be used. A related item on the company's second-quarter release page said the offering closed with 14,907,407 ADSs sold, including full exercise of the underwriters' option.
The price sat between two reference points. Clinical Trials Arena reported that SLN shares closed at $11.95 on August 7 and at $15.43 on August 10, the day of the data, a near 30% gain. The offering priced below the August 10 close.
Context
Silence went into the raise with $72.1 million in cash and cash equivalents at June 30, 2026, against $85.1 million in cash and short-term investments at the end of 2025. Its second-quarter net loss was $12.3 million, and R&D spending of $9.1 million was about half the year-earlier level after the company finished zerlasiran phase 3 readiness work in 2025.
The data that set up the raise were strong. Divesiran produced an 88% response rate against 19% for placebo in the 48-patient SANRECO trial, and Silence said it would take the 12-week dose into a phase 3 trial starting in the first half of 2027. Neither the first-quarter release nor the second-quarter release gave a cash runway.
Two months later, Merck KGaA agreed to acquire Silence for $20 per ADS, a 130% premium to the October 16 close.
What it means for investors
The raise followed a common pattern in biotech: sell stock into a data-driven rally while the order book is deep. It added cash ahead of a planned phase 3 in PV, though the company gave no runway figure. Iain Ross, the chairperson and interim principal executive officer, later said the Merck deal was "the result of a competitive sale process".
Investors who bought at $13.50 saw the $20 Merck offer come in about 48% above their price. That figure is computed from the two published prices, and it only counts if the deal closes.
The cost of the raise was dilution. Silence had 141,739,180 ordinary shares outstanding at June 30. The 14.9 million ADSs sold equal about 44.7 million ordinary shares, close to a third more stock. Because the Merck price is set per ADS, that dilution was already in the share count when the deal value was agreed.
What to watch
Silence shareholders will vote on the Merck scheme of arrangement, which also needs sanction from the High Court of England and Wales. Closing is expected in the first quarter of 2027.