Bignads
I had been thinking along exactly the same lines.
As soon as I saw the first Lentivector licence announcement, I thought, "Why?" and "Why now?. OXB don't particularly need money at the moment, and presumably such deals are not particularly time sensitive, so could have come at any time. Announcements now have the advantage of being good news which would help to support the SP should someone decide that they want the company, or the successful Trovax bidder wants to take a stake.
Possible consolation prize for a disappointed Trovax underbidders was the conclusion that I came to, but decided that I was perhaps reading too much into what might be a simple coincidence. Then we had the second announcement!