Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners’ portfolio company Vessix Vascular has been acquired by Boston Scientific in a deal worth up to USD425m.
Of this, USD125m will be paid at the closing with the balance upon achievement of certain clinical and sales milestones.
Vessix has developed a catheter-based renal denervation system for the treatment of uncontrolled hypertension.
Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners holds a significant stake in Vessix in which it invested USD10m in June 2011 generating a return multiple of up to 10x.
Raphaël Wisniewski, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners’ representative on Vessix’s board, says: "We are proud to have backed Vessix’s team which, in our view, delivered the best product for renal denervation as well as an excellent exit opportunity for its shareholders. Our investment thesis has been confirmed: Vessix’s product has been shown to be user-friendly, safe and effective in patients while dramatically reducing treatment time and thus representing an attractive business case also for potential buyers. The total transaction value allows us to make up to 10x on the investment we made one and a half years ago. This exit demonstrates our ability to support the best US companies in their clinical development in Europe."
Raymond W Cohen, chief executive officer of Vessix Vascular, says: "Our intent to attract a high quality European investor to lead our financing proved to be the right decision with Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners acting as a valuable partner for the company and the investor syndicate."
Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners led the company’s USD25m series B financing in June 2011. The funds were used to develop Vessix’s V2 Renal Denervation System from prototype to CE mark in less than a year, and to start a 120 patient post-CE mark clinical trial, which has already enrolled patients in over 20 centres across Europe, New Zealand and Australia.
This M&A transaction is the second exit for a company of the BioDiscovery 3 fund, managed by Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, and launched in 2008. The BioDiscovery funds have now completed nine trade sales and nine IPOs, reflecting the performance of this family of funds.
