Excalibur, the medical sciences investment house founded by Professor Sir Christopher Evans, has expanded its business operations in Australia, Europe and the Middle East.
Excalibur has acquired fund management and advisory firm International BioScience Managers, built by Jeremy Curnock Cook (pictured).
As a result of this acquisition, Excalibur now owns a 50 per cent stake in International BioScience Managers in Australia through which it plans further expansion. International BioScience already manages a profitable life sciences fund and is expected to shortly become part of the Excalibur Group. The group is working on new funds to address opportunities in the Asia Pacific region.
Curnock Cook, one of the UK’s longest serving and most experienced venture capital figure in medical sciences, has joined Excalibur’s team along with James Wakefield, an original founders of private equity house Bridgepoint Capital, who will specialise in fund raising and investment activities in Europe.
Excalibur is also expanding its operations in Qatar, initially with Virgin Health Bank, the private cord blood banking service it established in partnership with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, but is also in discussions to locate a more substantive Excalibur office in Doha. Discussions are also underway to set up a fully operational Swiss office in the next quarter to help process its European transactions.
Sir Chris, founder and chairman of Excalibur Group, says: “I am delighted that Jeremy and James, two of the most talented and experienced senior investment practitioners in the UK, have joined Excalibur. Their enthusiasm and commitment to our vision over the next 10 years represents another significant leap forward for Excalibur’s business plan. 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.
“We have been very active over the last several months to make the most of a raft of good opportunities that were sitting out there and have been involved in numerous transactions involving US, Australian, Middle Eastern and European capital.
“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.”
