New fund aims to raise $150m for Australian biotech

A new fund, spearheaded by stockbrokers Intersuisse, British VC Rothschild Bioscience Managers and Sequence Capital Group, aims to raise AUD$150 million and overseas backing for Australian biotech companies.

Jonathan Buckley, director at Intersuisse Corporate, said it was apparent that there was still too much fragmentation in the Australian biotechnology sector. Nonetheless, he said, international investors were attracted to Australia's strong science base.

"What differentiates [our fund] is a motivation to identify transactions overseas," he said. Intersuisse has raised money for 20 Australian biotech firms over the last couple of years, Buckley said.

Rothschild Bioscience Managers is headed by Jeremy Curnock Cook, a former director of Melbourne biotech Amrad. It is currently in the process of raising another $150 million for the European biotech market.

"We see opportunities [for Australian biotech] largely in Europe and Canada," Buckley said. "We're not dismissing the US, but we see that deals would be easier to achieve in those countries."

The fund was unveiled at the AusBiotech 2003 conference currently under way in Adelaide. Buckley said it would gather momentum as more details became available in coming weeks.