Hunt for $100m to back life science

By LIAM DANN

The fledgling biotechnology sector could get a significant shot in the arm from a $100 million investment fund planned by the commercial division of the Government science agency AgResearch.

AgResearch-owned Celentis is working with venture capital specialist Direct Capital to raise the private investment money.

Celentis chief executive Stewart Washer said the aim was to attract investors from Australasia and Singapore to quality science projects from the region.

Celentis was a machine that had outgrown the flow of intellectual property coming from AgResearch, he said.

It made sense to use it as a vehicle for biotechnology ventures from other sources in New Zealand, Australia and Singapore.

"In terms of the Celentis mandate, what we're doing is exactly what we were set up to do," he said.

"We're a bridge between Government-funded research and private equity and we're bringing private equity closer to the CRIs [crown research institutes] and universities with things like this."

The strong track record that Celentis has in commercialising its own biotechnology will be used to attract investors to the fund, which is still in the early stages.

Celentis controls nine successful subsidiary companies that have grown out of AgResearch science projects.

They include animal vaccine company AgVax and smart fertiliser company EnCoate.

The new fund - called Life Science Ventures - would be designed to invest in projects at all phases of commercial development, from pre-seed projects still in the lab through to those almost ready for the market.

In the past people had been deterred from investing in life science because it was sometimes difficult to understand and to do accurate due diligence on, Washer said.

Celentis hoped to address this by using its skills to assess scientific projects and evaluate their investment potential.

"We've built up a unique team across New Zealand and Australia in terms of being able to analyse early stage biotech," Washer said.

Once investments were made Celentis would provide skills to advise on commercialisation and steer the projects at a high level, he said.

The Life Science Ventures fund is likely to secure large foundation investors before opening up to the wider investment sector.

Washer yesterday announced his resignation as chief executive of Celentis to return to Australia but said he planned to stay on until the plans for the fund and the framework for Celentis' new commercial direction were settled.

Last week Celentis announced the new direction saying that it would consider widening the company's shareholder base beyond AgResearch.

Farming dollars

CELENTIS

* The commercial arm of Crown research company AgResearch.

* Aimed at commercialising science in three areas - animal drug delivery, neutriceuticals, and food industry measurement systems.

* Owns stakes in nine companies: AgVax, BioProducts, EnCoate, ComOne, Clone International, Grasslanz, Sastek, SpectraNet, Time Capsule.

* Based Maritime Sq, Auckland.

* Chief executive: Dr Stewart Washer.

www.celentis.com

DIRECT CAPITAL

Venture capital and private equity investment manager.

Based Auckland.

Managing director: Ross George.

directcapital.co.nz