NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[flipper44]

I see, apparently you think massive trenches of money are thought of the day they are given. Malik worked for Cenkos prior to the deal (and way prior to his bonus) and prior to joining the board. Why is that important?

Financial Times
Neil Woodford
The longtime links between Neil Woodford and a City broking minnow

Cenkos Securities has often managed to secure backing from the former star stock picker

The relationship between Neil Woodford and Cenkos Securities has bemused rivals.

Cat Rutter Pooley, City Correspondent JUNE 27 2019
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For almost 15 years, a minnow of London’s broking world has had an impressive ability to secure investment from Neil Woodford, the once star stock picker whose flagship fund is now grappling with a flood of investor redemptions.

The relationship between Mr Woodford and Cenkos Securities, which has specialised in bringing some of the UK’s smallest public companies to market since it was founded in 2004, has bemused rivals and fed City chatter.

Half of Cenkos’s top-20 equity fundraisings by value since the start of 2014 — when Mr Woodford left Invesco and struck out on his own — were in stocks where Woodford Investment Management disclosed an interest, according to Bloomberg data.

Among the deals the two did together were the refinancing of AA and the £1.2bn reverse takeover of used car dealership BCA Marketplace, which was bought by a private equity group this week. Cenkos also brought to market less well known companies, including Woodford-backed biotechnology groups Verseon and Abzena.

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“It was for a while almost a given that any deal from Cenkos, whether it fitted with Woodford’s fund or not, would come into consideration,” said one investment adviser.

In the view of a rival broker: “[Woodford] consistently took issues from [Cenkos] that he wouldn’t take from other people.”

Cenkos said that “contrary to speculation there is no special relationship with Neil Woodford” and that it has “a standard arms-length relationship with its fund management clients, Mr Woodford’s funds being just one of many.”