BB Biotech AG

New innovative drugs and technologies are powering sustainable momentum in the biotech sector     

Focus on profitable companies and small and mid-cap companies with strong pipelines  

Attractive dividend policy; Dividend payment of 5% p.a.

BB Biotech AG (Milan)-EURBB Biotech AG (SIX)-CHFBB Biotech AG (Xetra)-EUR

Investment Focus

ISIN-No. CH0038389992

BB Biotech aims to achieve an average annual double-digit return over the long term, thus outperforming the broad market indices by a significant margin. BB Biotech invests worldwide in fast growing companies developing and marketing innovative biotech drugs.

Indexed performance (as at: 24.09.2021)

NAV: CHF 88.05 (23.09.2021)


Fonds (Brutto)
01 Jan 2010 - 01 Jan 2010
An error occurred - no data to display

Rolling performance (23.09.2021)

BB Biotech AG (SIX)-CHFBenchmark
23.09.2020 - 23.09.202133.16%30.95%
23.09.2019 - 23.09.202015.71%18.51%
23.09.2018 - 23.09.2019-6.61%-8.67%
23.09.2017 - 23.09.201816.78%6.85%

Annualized performance (23.09.2021)

BB Biotech AG (SIX)-CHFBenchmark
1 year33.16%30.95%
3 years12.86%12.29%
5 years16.84%11.09%
Since Inception p.a.13.77%10.76%

Cumulative performance (23.09.2021)

BB Biotech AG (SIX)-CHFBenchmark
1M-0.90%2.29%
YTD23.65%18.85%
1 year33.16%30.95%
3 years43.90%41.73%
5 years117.86%69.25%
Since Inception3'545.91%1'627.25%

Annual performance

BB Biotech AG (SIX)-CHFBenchmark
202019.35%15.80%
201918.55%23.02%
2018-5.21%-8.00%
201722.91%16.42%

Investment Focus

BB Biotech aims to achieve an average annual double-digit return over the long term, thus outperforming the broad market indices by a significant margin. BB Biotech invests worldwide in fast growing companies developing and marketing innovative biotech drugs. At least 90% of its shareholdings must be in listed companies. Positions in emerging-market biotech companies will be taken on a selective basis.
BB Biotech invests in fast-growing biotechnology companies that are developing and marketing innovative drugs. It focuses on biotech companies whose products address areas of significant unmet medical needs and that are generating above-average sales and profit growth. With an aggregate weighting of more than 90%, listed companies account for most of its portfolio investments. BB Biotech has also taken a stake in the structural growth opportunities that emerging markets offer.
We seek a thorough understanding of the activities pursued by our participations, i.e., not only the purely financial aspects of the business, but also the respective competitive environment, the innovation pipeline, patent portfolios and the market perception of each company’s products and services, to name only a few other aspects.
The target portfolio of BB Biotech will generally consist of 20 to 35 participations. Large positions will be taken in five to eight companies, the top holdings. Together they will account for no more than two-thirds of the portfolio and no single position will have a weighting greater than 25% of portfolio investments.
Due to their substantial portfolio weighting, in general the top holdings should be generating both revenues and income. The portfolio’s smaller participations are companies with promising drug candidates in their pipelines. BB Biotech has deliberately chosen not to construct a portfolio of statistical relevance as it attaches importance to the depth of sector and company expertise and seeks personal access to the management of our equity interests.
The asset classes BB Biotech can invest in are stocks, equity interests in unlisted companies, corporate bonds and options on a range of underlying assets.
BB Biotech invests its capital in stocks for liquidity and risk/reward reasons. Investments in private companies can account for up to 10% of the portfolio. These positions will have a higher weighting when stock market performance is positive over a prolonged period.
Corporate bonds are a suitable investment when stock market trends are negative. Options on the stocks of portfolio companies are bought and sold at opportune times and as a means of hedging currency exposure.Show moreShow less

Investment suitability & Risk

Low risk

High risk

The investment company’s objective is to generate attractive and competitive capital growth in the long term. It is therefore particularly suited to investors with an investment horizon of at least 5 years who want to selectively diversify their portfolio with investments in the biotechnology sector and who are willing to accept the equity risks typical of this sector.

General Information

Investment ManagerAsset Management BaB N.V., Curaçao
CustodianBank am Bellevue, Luzerner Kantonalbank, Credit Suisse und Deutsche Bank
Fund AdministratorBellevue Asset Management Gruppe
AuditorPriceWaterhouseCoopers
Launch date09.11.1993
Year end closing31. Dec
Management Fee1.10%
ISIN numberCH0038389992
Valor number3838999
BloombergBION SW Equity
WKNA0NFN3

Legal Information

Legal formAG

Key data (30.06.2021, base currency CHF)

Beta1.18
Volatility34.80
Tracking error13.23
Active share77.89
Correlation0.94
Share ratio0.65
Information ratio0.35
Jensen's alpha2.19

Opportunities

  • Unique opportunity for European investors to access the global biotech sector, a noncyclical growth industry that is strongly supported by increasing demand, driven by demographic trends and life style changes.
  • New innovative drugs and technologies are powering sustainable momentum in the biotech sector.
  • Focus on a diversified portfolio of profitable companies as well as small and midcap companies with strong pipelines.
  • Management Team with strong scientific and medical expertise. Renowned threemember Board of Directors.
  • Attractive dividend policy; Dividend payment of 5% p.a.

Risks

  • BB Biotech invests in equities. Equities are subject to strong price fluctuations and so are also exposed to the risk of price losses.
  • Biotech equities can be subject to sudden substantial price movements owning to market, sector or company factors.
  • BB Biotech invests in foreign currencies, which means a corresponding degree of currency risk against the reference currency.
  • The price investors pay or receive, like other listed shares, is determined by supply and demand and may be at a discount or premium to the underlying net asset value of the Company.
  • BB Biotech may take a leverage of up to 15%, which may lead to even higher price movements compared to the underlying market.

August was a volatile month for biotech stocks. The month ended with positive performance for BB Biotech and the biotech sector in general. BB Biotech´s share price closed up 1.7% in CHF in August. A number of BB Biotech´s portfolio companies announced results for the second quarter of 2021. We remain confident that our portfolio will perform well in the long term.

BB Biotech’s portfolio company Moderna was once again in focus due to the company’s potential booster vaccine against Covid-19. Moderna reported their quarterly results in the beginning of August as well as other positive news throughout the month.
 
Below we have highlighted some of the recent developments in a few of our portfolio companies:
 
Fate Therapeutics (-11.5% in USD) announced on August 19 positive interim clinical data from the company’s FT516 and FT596 programs for patients with relapsed / refractory B-cell lymphoma. FT516 is the company’s universal, off-the-shelf natural killer (NK) cell product candidate derived from a clonal master induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line engineered with a novel high-affinity, non-cleavable CD16 (hnCD16) Fc receptor, which is designed to maximize antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), a potent anti-tumor mechanism by which NK cells recognize, bind and kill antibody-coated cancer cells. The company’s FT596 program incorporates both the hnCD16 Fc receptor and a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) targeting CD19, which is designed to enable multi-antigen targeting of tumor cells, as well as an IL-15 receptor fusion (IL-15RF) to enhance NK cell activity and survival. The market reacted negatively to the update and the stock traded down in August.
 
Argenx (+11.1% in USD) announced quarterly update at the end of July and the stock had positive momentum in August. On August 25 the company announced that they have submitted, and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has validated, the marketing authorization application (MAA) for the company’s investigational FcRn antagonist, efgartigimod, for the treatment of generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG). Validation of the MAA confirms that the application is sufficiently complete to begin the formal review process. The MAA is supported by results from the pivotal Phase III ADAPT trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of efgartigimod for the treatment of patients with gMG.
 
Moderna (+6.5% in USD) announced on August 5 the company´s quarterly results showing total revenues of USD 4.4 bn. On August 13 Moderna announced that the FDA has approved an update to the emergency use authorization for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine (mRNA-1273) to include a third dose for immunocompromised individuals 18 years of age or older in the United States who have undergone solid organ transplantation, or who are diagnosed with conditions that are considered to have an equivalent level of immunocompromise.

We are seeing positive progress in our portfolio companies and remain optimistic about the future of the biotech industry in general and our portfolio companies in particular.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results and can be misleading. As the subfund is denominated in a currency that may differ than an investor’s base currency, changes in the rate of exchange may have an adverse effect on prices and incomes. Performance is shown net of fees and expenses for the relevant share class over the reference period. All performance figures reflect the reinvestment of dividends and do not take into account the commissions and costs incurred on the issue and redemption of shares, if any. The reference benchmark of this class is used for performance comparison purposes only (dividend reinvested). No benchmark is directly identical to a subfund, thus the performance of a benchmark is not a reliable indicator of future performance of the subfund it is compared to. There can be no assurance that a return will be achieved or that a substantial loss of capital will not be incurred.Show moreShow less

  • Lead Portfolio Manager

    Daniel Koller

    Dr. Daniel Koller joined Bellevue Asset Management in 2004 and is senior portfolio manager in the biotechnology segment specialized in cardiovascular diseases. Since 2010 he is head management team of the listed investment company BB Biotech AG . Before joining the company he spent four years in the financial sector, initially as an equity analyst at UBS Warburg and then as a private equity investor at equity4life. Dr. Daniel Koller studied biochemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and earned a doctorate in biotechnology while working at Cytos Biotechnology.

  • Portfolio Manager

    Felicia Flanigan

    Felicia Flanigan is a Senior Portfolio Manager and expert in infectious diseases and oncology. Before joining the team in 2004 she worked as a research analyst with Adams, Harkness & Hill. Previously she worked at SG Cowen in healthcare research. Felicia Flanigan received her MBA from Suffolk University, Boston, and her BA in communications from Boston College.

  • Portfolio Manager

    Stephen Taubenfeld

    Dr. Stephen Taubenfeld joined BB Biotech AG as an expert for neurologic and psychiatric diseases. He previously worked as an analyst at Iguana Healthcare Partners, of which he was a co-founder, and as a consultant for MerlinBioMed Group. Dr. Stephen Taubenfeld studied neurosciences at Brown University

  • Portfolio Manager

    Dallas Webb

    Dallas Webb is portfolio manager of the trust BB Biotech since 2006. Previously, he worked as an equity analyst first at Sterling Financial Investment Group for 2 years and then at Stanford Group from 2004 onwards. His first stop as a biotechnology analyst was at Adams, Harkness & Hill, Boston. Dallas Webb holds an MBA from Texas Christian University of Fort Worth and a BA in Microbiotechnology and Zoology from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge/Los Angeles.

  • Portfolio Manager

    Christian Koch

    Dr. Christian Koch joined BB Biotech as an analyst and portfolio manager in 2014. Prior to joining BB Biotech, he was a sell-side equity analyst in the Pharma & Biotech department of Bank am Bellevue. Christian Koch has a Master in Bioinformatics from the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main and the Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg, and a PhD in Cheminformatics & Computational Drug Design, which he completed at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

  • Portfolio Manager

    Maurizio Bernasconi

    Dr. Maurizio Bernasconi joined BB Bitoech as analyst and portfolio manager in 2017. Prior he was a sell-side equity analyst in the Pharma & Biotech department of Bank am Bellevue. Maurizio Bernansconi has a master's degree in chemistry at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, a PhD in organic chemistry at the University of Basel and an MBA in International Healthcare Management from the Frankfurt School of Finance.

  • Portfolio Manager

    Samuel Croset

    Samuel Croset joined Bellevue Asset Management as Portfolio Manager and Digital Transformation Lead in 2020. He previously worked for Roivant Sciences from 2018-2020 as data scientist supporting investment decisions in drug projects as well as leading a team focused on the analysis of real-world data. Prior to that, he started his professional career at Roche as data scientist in the research department (2014-2018). Samuel holds a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics from the University of Cambridge, a MS in Bioinformatics and a MS in Biochemistry from the University of Geneva.
1