STRATEGIC LIFE SCIENCES $400m ‘FUND OF FUNDS’
November 13th 2007 06:59
Biotech Daily
Monday November 12, 2007
Daily news on ASX-listed biotechnology companies
Monday November 12, 2007
Daily news on ASX-listed biotechnology companies
* ASX, BIOTECHS DOWN: ANTISENSE UP 13%, METABOLIC DOWN 9%
* TOP NAMES START $400m STRATEGIC LIFE SCIENCES ‘FUND OF FUNDS’
* ACRUX APPLIES FOR TGA APPROVAL FOR MENOPAUSE SPRAY
* PERU APPROVES NEURODISCOVERY PHASE II DENTAL PAIN TRIAL
* IMPEDIMED AWAITS US LAUNCH, TRIAL PUBLICATION
* NEUREN LOSES CEO DAVID CLARKE, PROMOTES DR PARMJOT BAINS
* FMR, FIDELITY TAKES 11.2% OF COCHLEAR
* VIRALYTICS PLEADS SCHULTZ, BULLETIN TO ASX QUERY
* AU REVOIR PEPTECH, BONJOUR ARANA
THE MARKET
Thirteen of the Biotech Daily Top 40 stocks were up, 15 stocks fell, seven traded unchanged and five were untraded.
Antisense was best again, up 0.7 cents or 12.96 percent to 6.1 cents with 8.1 million shares traded, followed by Chemgenex up eight cents or 8.0 percent to $1.08 on small volumes.
Metabolic and Optiscan led the falls, both down 9.09 percent. Metabolic lost half a cent to 5.0 cents with 1.5 million shares traded while Optiscan fell three cents to 30 cents on small volumes.
subscribe to Biotech Daily at the link above
STRATEGIC LIFE SCIENCES
Graeme Kaufman, Igor Gonda, Bob Moses, Martin Vogel and Michael Shaw are just some of the people behind the Melbourne-based $400m Strategic Life Sciences fund.
The fund’s chief investment officer, Graeme Kaufman, who was formerly CSL’s chief financial officer and a senior Circadian executive, told Biotech Daily the fund expected to have $200 million in March 2008, with “half a dozen to 10 investors” contributing to the fund, building to $400 million.
Mr Kaufman said the fund would have offices in Melbourne and San Francisco and would invest in both Australia and the US and bring US funds to Australia.
“There’s an overwhelming case for American companies to invest in the Australian biotech sector,” Mr Kaufman said.
He said the Strategic Life Sciences fund was targeting wholesale funds with more than $10 million to invest.
“It’s a fund of funds,” Mr Kaufman said. “We’re not even looking at sophisticated investors.”
He said the fund would invest in three tiers with 25 percent invested in low-risk, base-load, well-established companies generating revenues with a further 50 percent in emerging companies.
Mr Kaufman said the greatest effort would be in the 25 percent invested in the higher risk/return early stage companies in which the fund would be “more interventionist, more involved”.
He said the fund’s investments in the third tier companies would allowed it to deal with issues in management, boards and technology gaps.
The fund will also be involved in merger and acquisitions activity.
Investment banker and Strategic Life Sciences executive chairman, Michael Shaw, told Biotech Daily the fund would “transform the industry” and would be a “full life-cycle investor”.
In a media release Mr Shaw said: “We selected Melbourne as our base due to the Victorian Government’s strategic investment in Melbourne as the centre for life sciences in Asia-Pacific and the importance of this sector as a key driver of Victoria’s future economy”.
Mr Shaw said the people involved included venture capitalist Dr Martin Vogel who, with Diana Percy, would “focus on people development and growth within investees”.
The Strategic Life Sciences team includes Antisense chairman Bob Moses, Aradign chief executive officer and former Acrux CEO Dr Igor Gonda, who is based in San Francisco and former Credit Suisse equities analyst Dr Peter Burton will aid investment decision making.
The managing director of Panorama Capital Dr Rod Ferguson will be on the advisory board. The fund said Dr Ferguson was widely recognized as a leading US life sciences and venture capitalist specialist, and was also based in San Francisco.
Subscribe to Biotech Daily at the link above
| 48 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog