EDMOND DE ROTHSCHILD INVESTMENT PARTNERS CLOSES ¤150 MILLION,
BIODISCOVERY 3 FUND
Paris, France, 27 May, 2008: Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners
today announced it has raised ¤150 million through its BioDiscovery 3
venture capital fund for European life science companies. The closing
of BioDiscovery 3 brings the total funds under management for life
science investments close to ¤300 million. Along with this first and
final closing, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners has opened a
greenshoe of up to 10% for additional investors.
"This is a great achievement for Edmond de Rothschild Investment
Partners and its life science team. BioDiscovery 3 is our largest
European FCPR focused fund, with ¤150 million for investment in life
science companies," said Pierre-Michel Passy, CEO of Edmond de
Rothschild Investment Partners. " The strong support of our existing
investors and several new relationships have allowed us to close the
fund in just three months. This is clear recognition for our
investment strategy, validation of the life science team's approach
and growing recognition as expert venture investors."
Through BioDiscovery 3, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners will
lead investments in 15 to 20 life science companies across all stages
of development. The investments will be made both in therapeutic drug
development companies and a combination of medical technology and
molecular diagnostic companies. The fund will invest up to ¤15
million per company, mainly in Europe.
Investors in the new fund include most of Edmond de Rothschild
Investment Partners' life science existing investor base, including
La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild, La Caisse des Dépôts
and Amgen. Other investors include health insurance companies, public
pension funds, social institutions and institutional investors.
In the past eight years, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners has
invested in about 30 life science companies, through BioDiscovery 1
and 2 funds, progressively becoming a lead investor with strong exits
including five trade sales like Spine Next and U3 Pharma, and a total
of seven IPOs, among which OncoMethylome Sciences, Cellectis, and
ExonHit.
Recent BioDiscovery investments include: Biospace Med (France);
Cytomics Pharma (France); Implanet (France); Jena Valve Technologies
(Germany); Novagali Pharma (France); Novexel (France); Noxxon Pharma
(Germany); OncoMethylome Sciences (EuroNext Brussels: ONCOB);
Pangenetics (Netherlands) and U3 Pharma (Germany).
About Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners
Paris-based Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners is dedicated to
minority investments into privately-owned companies. It has currently
¤650 million under management which is being invested primarily as
life sciences venture capital and growth capital.
Pierre-Michel Passy, Olivier Litzka, Gilles Nobécourt, Raphael
Wisniewski, Geoffroy de Ribains, and Pr. Thierry Hercend, Venture
Partner, constitute Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners' life
science team. They bring together over 30 years of experience in the
life science industry and more than 50 years of private equity and
venture capital experience.
Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners is an independently managed
affiliate of La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild Banque.
For more information please visit: www.edrip.fr.
Contact: Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners
Gilles Nobécourt
Tel : 00 33 1 40 17 25 41
Olivier Litzka
Tel : 00 33 1 40 17 27 46
Raphael Wisniewski
Tel : 00 33 1 40 17 31 44