Forbion Capital Partners announces final closing of FCF I, FCF II fund

Forbion Capital Partners, a leading investment firm dedicated to the life science sector, today announces the final closings of both FCF I Co-Invest Fund and of FCF II, raising a total of more than €190m ($240m). Forbion's €54m Co-Invest Fund aims to invest alongside FCF I in a select number of late-stage FCF I portfolio companies. FCF II has an investment strategy similar to its predecessor fund FCF I. Forbion aims to invest the majority of the fund in Europe and the remainder in North America and Israel. The investment focus is on private companies developing novel drugs, medical devices and diagnostics for high- or even unmet medical needs. This is serving a market that is both driven by the pharmaceutical industry's continued need for new products to supplement their ailing pipelines as well as by patient demand for safer and more efficacious treatments.

“It is the Forbion team's proven ability of applying commercial focus in investing in this technology-rich space that makes Forbion one of the strongest managers. We believe the European life sciences market to be very interesting if you are able to select the right funds.”

Forbion typically leads the investment syndicates it forms and has built a strong track record in recent years. Last year alone, they were involved in two of the three most successful exits of private, European life sciences companies, with the sale of Fovea Pharmaceuticals to Sanofi Aventis and the sale of PanGenetics to Abbott. As the venture industry is moving towards further specialization and consolidation, Forbion recently decided to expand its European footprint by opening an office in Munich and by hiring Dr. Holger Reithinger (formerly with Global Life Sciences Ventures and 3i) in April of this year.

FCF I Co-Invest Fund has already committed funds to five companies, including Circulite, Pathway Medical, AMT Holding, Biovex and Xention. Following the first close of FCF II investments have already been made in Niti, arGEN-X, Exosome, Promedior and Cardoz.

With these fundraisings, Forbion was able to further expand its global investor base of high quality limited partners, to include the EIF (also through their ERP-EIF and LfA-EIF facilities), US and EU pension funds, major insurance companies and leading European family offices.

Commenting on the close, Bart Bergstein, Managing Partner at Forbion said: "We are very pleased to have raised such a substantial amount as fundraising conditions have never been more challenging. Forbion's long-running, successful track record in making life science investments, built over the past decade has been pivotal in our ability to raise this new capital. The fact that both existing limited partners decided to continue backing us and that many new investors decided to commit as well makes us very proud. Given that only few venture players have active funds to commit from, we currently see many highly attractive assets from an increasingly rich deal flow. We are therefore confident that both new funds could be at least as successful as FCF I."

Juan Delgado-Moreira, Managing Director at Hamilton Lane (London, UK) and one of the longstanding investors in Forbion commented: "It is the Forbion team's proven ability of applying commercial focus in investing in this technology-rich space that makes Forbion one of the strongest managers. We believe the European life sciences market to be very interesting if you are able to select the right funds."