Two of the UK’s longest-standing biotech investors join forces

Acquisition

Excalibur, the medical sciences investment fund run by veteran biotech entrepreneur Christopher Evans, has acquired fund management and advisory firm International BioScience Managers Limited (IBML), built by another old stager of UK biotech, Jeremy Curnock Cook.

As a result Excalibur now owns a 50 per cent stake in IB Managers Limited in Australia, and is planning further expansion through this holding, raising new funds to invest in the Asia Pacific Region.

Curnock Cook is joining Excalibur’s team along with James Wakefield, an original founder of the private equity house Bridgepoint Capital, who will specialise in fund raising and investment activities in Europe.

On another front Excalibur is also expanding its operations in Qatar, initially in partnership with Virgin Health Bank, the private cord blood banking service it established in partnership with the Virgin Group. Excalibur said it is also in discussions to locate an office in Doha and plans to set up a Swiss office in the next quarter to help process its European transactions.

Evans said, “I am delighted that Jeremy and James, two of the most talented and experienced senior investment practitioners in the UK, have joined Excalibur. We all share in the belief that there are now substantial new international opportunities out there in the area of medical sciences and having a cadre of highly experienced, hands-on practitioners within our team will accelerate our plans to unlock value in this sector.”

“Those of us who have been around for a while recognised the situation facing biotech some time ago and concluded that the most effective way forward was to build lower risk companies with earlier returns in the broader medical sciences sector.”