About Us — Raglan Capital

Intuition. Expertise. Performance.

Raglan Capital is renowned for building in-house companies, which are rapidly listed on the London Stock Exchange. It aims to create one new company a year.

Founded in 2007, it’s led by seasoned serial-entrepreneur Cathal Friel and a team of highly experienced and connected professionals, with offices in Dublin, London and Vienna.

With a proven track record of delivering exceptional results and value for shareholders, Raglan aims to complete an IPO within three years of creating a company. This enables these companies to effectively prepare for the next stage of growth and reach their full potential.
Raglan’s experience and engrained knowledge spans various sectors, including pharma and natural resources, and are supported by an extensive network of international relationships both in Europe and North America.
Raglan established Open Orphan, now named hVIVO, in October 2017. The Company listed on the London Stock Exchange and Euronext in 2019 and has become the world leader in testing infectious and respiratory disease vaccines and therapeutics using human challenge clinical trials.

Learn More
Raglan successfully spun-out a number of hVIVO’s non-core assets into Poolbeg Pharma plc, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2021. It has gone on to become a leading biopharmaceutical company committed to the development and commercialisation of innovative medicines that address critical unmet medical needs.

Learn More
Raglan established European Green Transition in 2021 and successfully listed the company on the London Stock Exchange in 2024. EGT is developing green economy assets in Europe and aims to capitalise on the opportunities created by the green energy transition.
Amryt Pharma was created in 2015 and went on to IPO on the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. It was sold in a $1.48bn deal in 2023.

Learn More
With deep industry experience in the oil and gas sector, Raglan established Fastnet Oil & Gas plc which floated on the London and Dublin stock exchanges in 2012 raising over $50m.

Learn More

Meet the Team

Cathal Friel is a seasoned serial entrepreneur with a long-running and successful history in business. Cathal is Managing Director of Raglan Capital and Chairman and co-founder of hVIVO plc (previously Open Orphan plc). hVIVO plc was successfully IPO’d on the London and Dublin stock exchanges in June 2019 and is the world leader in testing infectious and respiratory disease vaccines and therapeutics using human challenge trials. Cathal is also Chairman and co-founder of Poolbeg Pharma plc, which was created as a spin-out from hVIVO plc. Poolbeg Pharma specialises in the development of innovative medicines to address the unmet need in infectious and other prevalent diseases and began trading on the London Stock Exchange in 2021.
Cathal also co-founded and sits on the Board of Directors of European Green Transition plc, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 2024.
Cathal was also co-founder of Amryt Pharma plc which IPO’d on the London Stock Exchange in 2016 and was successfully sold to Chiesi Farmaceutici for $1.48bn in April 2023. Prior to that, he was co-founder and Chairman of Fastnet Oil & Gas plc, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2011.
Cathal began his working career a little earlier than most by having to step in to help run the family business in 1981 at the relatively young age of 16 due to a family illness. He went on to complete his education by taking night classes and received an MBA from the University of Ulster in 1990. Cathal then spent the following five years lecturing on a part-time basis on International Marketing and Business Planning at the University of Ulster whilst in tandem running his own technology services business.
In 2001, Cathal was part of the team that successfully established Merrion Stockbrokers in Dublin. Following Merrion’s successful trade sale in 2006, he founded Raglan Capital which is renowned for building in-house companies that are quickly listed on the public stock markets and are scaled rapidly post-IPO generally via M&A transactions. Cathal was a finalist in the international category of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2020.

An experienced financial professional with a depth of healthcare and public markets experience. Ian is Chief Financial Officer of Poolbeg Pharma plc which he co-founded in 2021 and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2021. In 2017 he co-founded Open Orphan plc, was made a Board Observer and as VP Corporate Development, he led the acquisition of hVIVO plc and the reverse takeover (RTO) of Venn Life Sciences plc.
As a member of the core senior management team, Ian helped drive the company to its position today as a world leader in the testing of infectious and respiratory disease products using human challenge studies. Prior to this, Ian worked closely with Cathal Friel and Amryt’s senior management on the establishment of Amryt Pharma plc. Ian gained Corporate Finance experience at both Raglan Capital and Deloitte Corporate Finance. Ian has a BSc (Hons) in Finance from University College Cork and is a Member of Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Carol Dalton has worked with the Raglan Capital team since 2017 and is VP of Investor Relations & Public Relations at Raglan’s portfolio of companies including hVIVO plc and Poolbeg Pharma plc. With strong public markets and life science experience and as co-founder of both companies, Carol has been instrumental in their growth and success to date. Carol holds a BSc in Nutraceuticals with a focus on antimicrobial resistance from Technological University Dublin.

Jack Kelly is an experienced financial professional with a depth of experience completing M&A transactions across a range of sectors. Jack works across Raglan’s portfolio of companies supporting M&A, transaction, licensing and investor relations activities. Jack is Chief Financial Officer at European Green Transition plc which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2024.
Prior to joining Raglan Capital, Jack worked in PwC Ireland’s Corporate Finance team supporting Irish and international businesses on a range of M&A related activities. Jack has a Business and Economics degree from Trinity College Dublin and is a member of Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Liam is an experience immunologist with a depth of experience across artificial intelligence, drug development, translational sciences and medical practice. Liam works at select Raglan portfolio companies overseeing internal program advancement, diligence and onboarding of potential asset acquisitions. Prior to joining Raglan Capital, Liam completed his PhD in immuno oncology at University College Cork and spent several years working in clinical research organisations and pharma where he is a Principal Investigator with lines of research in infectious diseases and immuno oncology.

Emma joined Raglan Capital as an Executive Assistant in 2022. Emma supports the team across its portfolio of companies, including hVIVO plc and Poolbeg Pharma plc. Before her current position, Emma worked in professional services marketing and business development for leading legal and accountancy firms in Ireland and USA. Emma has a BSc in Marketing from Technological University Dublin.