Sunday, 11 April 2021
Shares in Open Orphan Plc (AIM: ORPH), took a tumble in early trading (recovering almost all the lost ground at the end of trading) likely due to some confusion over the T&Cs of being handed what is essentially free money. The specialist pharmaceutical services clinical research organisation (CRO) and a world leader in vaccine and antiviral testing using human challenge clinical trials, announces that it is at an advanced stage in planning for a possible spin-out of certain non-core Development IP Assets. However, the use of the word lock-in appears to have spooked some of the lemming natives amongst us.
Why anyone would not want to be locked into spin-out (not the parent company) which is likely to be a thriving, fast-growing company is lost on me! Unless I am being stupid, the lock-in refers to the new gifted in-specie shares (assuming this be the method). The lock-in does not refer to Open Orphan shares. Essentially, Open Orphan investors will be handed free sh…