SV Life Sciences (SVLS), formerly Schroder Ventures Life Sciences,
today announced the final closing of SV Life Sciences Fund IV (SVLS
IV) with total commitments of $572 million. The Fund was significantly
oversubscribed and SVLS decided to limit the final size. SVLS IV,
SVLS's fourth international life sciences fund, brings the firm's
total funds advised or managed to $1.6 billion, making it one of the
largest venture capital investment groups dedicated to the life
sciences sector.
The diversified investment strategy of SVLS IV remains consistent
with that of earlier funds. SVLS IV will be focused on providing
start-up, early stage and expansion capital to private life sciences
companies in the United States and Europe. SVLS IV will invest across
a range of life sciences sectors, including biotechnology and
pharmaceuticals, medical devices, healthcare services and healthcare
information technology (IT). Anticipated investment size will
typically be between $5 and $25 million.
James Garvey, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of SV
Life Sciences in Boston, commented: "We experienced considerable
success in the fundraising and were buoyed by the strength and proven
track record of our team. In 2006 we had an exceptional year with
sales of portfolio investments reaching over $2 billion as M&A
activity in biotech and medical devices continued. This gave investors
strong returns on their investment. We believe that our diversified
investment strategy, across sectors, stages and geographies, will
continue to provide broad investment opportunities for SVLS IV."
Kate Bingham, Managing Partner of SVLS in London, said: "Part of
the strategy for the SVLS IV fundraising was to broaden and diversify
the investor base to ensure a good balance of commitments in the fund.
As such, we are delighted to have attracted 32 high quality new
investors to add to a strong group of dedicated investors from
previous funds. This increased investor base spans globally with a
concentration in the United States and Europe and includes more
foundations, endowments, and family offices."
Of the total commitments, approximately 60 percent came from the
United States and 40 percent from Europe and Rest of World.
Managing partners of the SVLS investment team include James
Garvey, Kate Bingham, Lutz Giebel, Eugene Hill, David Milne, and
Michael Ross. They are a well established group of investment
professionals whose complementary backgrounds and expertise spans the
full range of the life sciences industry and balances investing
expertise with deep operating experience at both private and publicly
traded life sciences companies. Don Nelson, Chief Business Officer,
led the fundraising for the Group.
Venture capital funds advised by SVLS have invested in the life
sciences industry since the early 1980s and have backed over 100 life
sciences companies globally. The existing funds, SV Life Sciences
Funds I, II and III, were closed in 1994, 1999 and 2003 respectively,
with total committed capital of over $800 million. SVLS also manages
International Biotechnology Trust plc (Ticker: IBT), a London Stock
Exchange listed investment trust with a market cap of $210 million.
SV Life Sciences has US offices in Boston and the San Francisco
Bay Area, and a European office in London. For additional information
on SVLS, please visit www.svlsa.com.
Notes to Editors:
SV Life Sciences(1) (SVLS) was established in 1993, in London and
Boston, to take advantage of the global nature of the life sciences
opportunity and to enable active deal leadership in the key markets.
The SVLS team is composed of 28 professionals with extensive life
sciences investment, strategic, operational, scientific and clinical
experience.
In addition to SV Life Sciences Fund IV, SVLS advises and/or
manages three other private equity funds, SVLS Funds I, II and III.
These funds provide start-up, early stage and expansion capital to
life sciences companies in North America and Europe. Approximately
half of the investments have been in the biotech sector with the
remaining half split equally between the medical device and healthcare
service sectors. This broad sector, stage and regional diversification
and capability, which will be continued in SVLS Fund IV, is relatively
unique when compared to other peer life sciences focused venture
capital funds. Further information is available at www.svlsa.com.
The Group also has a capability in the public markets with a
dedicated team that manages International Biotechnology Trust plc, a
publicly quoted investment trust listed on the London Stock Exchange
(Ticker: IBT), with a total net asset value of approximately $210
million. IBT primarily invests in high growth, development stage
public life sciences companies with an emphasis on small cap US
biotechnology companies. Further information is available at
www.internationalbiotrust.com.
Examples of successful exits (greater than 5 times capital
returned) include Chiroscience, Eyetech Pharmaceuticals, GelTex
Pharmaceuticals, GlycoFi, Kinetix Pharmaceuticals, LaserVision,
LeukoSite, PowerMed, Rinat Neuroscience, Shire Pharmaceuticals,
(Ticker: SHP, SVLS was the founding investor in 1987) and Triangle
Pharmaceuticals. For a complete list of current investments please see
the SVLSA website at www.svlsa.com.
(1) In the UK, SV Life Sciences is a trading name of SV Life
Sciences Advisers LLP which is authorised and regulated in the UK by
the Financial Services Authority as an investment adviser.
