Word gets around about NZ potential

By SIMON COLLINS

Andrew Krukziener, the man who built Auckland's Metropolis apartment hotel, now wants to bring international financing in behind New Zealand's growing biotechnology industry.

Mr Krukziener, who is struggling to repay the bondholders who helped to finance the Metropolis, has formed a venture capital company offering "international strategic connections" as well as capital.

In March, he brought a delegation from Clal Biotechnology Industries in Israel to visit New Zealand biotech companies, universities and crown research institutes.

A Krukziener Venture Capital manager, Martyn Levy, has also met Singapore's state investment company, Temasek, and visited Moscow last month to look at bringing Russian scientists to work in biotech ventures here.

He is investigating bringing a complete Russian technology project, with its scientists and their families, to New Zealand.

He said Clal and Krukziener were considering "a sizeable investment in one particular biotech project in New Zealand" worth millions of dollars over several years.

"The Israeli biotechnology experts were very impressed with what they saw in New Zealand, in particular with the quality of the research," Mr Levy said.

"[Clal and Krukziener] are seriously considering the potential to use New Zealand as a base for undertaking clinical studies in certain areas.

"Leading Israeli scientists are now engaged in direct dialogue with NZ scientists in three biotech areas regarding future cooperation. One set of scientists has already arranged to meet in NZ in August."

Mr Krukziener said Krukziener Venture Capital aimed to build international networks to help NZ companies to "globalise."

"There are success stories in New Zealand. All are underfunded," he said. "They are doing unbelievably well for a New Zealand business, but they are not global successes. All are in need of a leap to the world."

Mr Levy said Krukziener Venture Capital was interested in the Government's $100 million venture capital seed fund announced in the Budget and was "looking to bring international venture capital players to join the fund."

The fund is modelled on an Israeli initiative in the early 1990s which is credited with kick-starting Israel's $US30 billion ($73 billion) venture capital industry, using Government money as the catalyst to attract private investment into new business start-ups. "Israelis are always looking for the next big thing," Mr Levy said.

"We have had a phone call from some high net-worth individuals [in Israel] saying, 'I heard it's all happening in New Zealand'."

Clal Biotechnology Industries is a subsidiary of Clal Industries and Investments, which has investments in a wide range of Israeli and American companies.

The biotech company's chief executive, Dr David Haselkorn, is a former head of the largest research and development division of the Israeli Defence Forces and was later managing director of a Nasdaq-listed biopharmaceutical company, Bio-Technology General Corporation.

Clal Biotechnology Industries

CORRECTION: In the original version of this report, we stated incorrectly that Clal Biotechnology Industries was associated with the New York-based Clal Jewish leadership network.