Forbion Closes Oversubscribed Fourth Life Sciences VC Fund at EUR 360 million

NAARDEN, The Netherlands, and MUNICH--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Forbion, a leading European life science venture capital firm, has today announced the final close of its new flagship fund, Forbion IV. The oversubscribed fund closed at EUR 360 million in capital commitments, significantly above its original target of EUR 250 million.

Forbion IV, like its predecessor fund, Forbion III, will primarily focus on opportunities in the EU including the UK, with the remainder of the fund targeting opportunities mainly in North America.

Forbion’s fourth fund will focus on biopharma investments, building on its track record of creating high-return, high-impact businesses, built around exciting new science, proven management teams or assets sourced from the pharmaceutical industry.

Forbion IV will target substantial initial stakes, looking to take lead positions and work alongside entrepreneurial management teams to deliver exceptional financial and societal returns. Forbion has already had considerable success with this strategy via its first three funds, with the EUR 183 million Forbion III already delivering 4 exits including the sale of Rigontec to MSD and the highly successful IPO of Replimune on NASDAQ in July 2018.

The fund, managed by one of Europe’s most experienced, specialised life sciences investment teams, will build a portfolio of approximately fifteen companies, of which five will be new companies (co)founded by Forbion, so-called “build” opportunities, and ten will be existing, “growth” companies.

Sander Slootweg, Managing Partner and co-founder of Forbion, commented:

“The successful final close for our fourth fund at EUR360m, effectively doubling the size of our third fund, unlocks the potential for higher deal sizes for Forbion IV, giving us the flexibility to choose between stand-alone and syndicated investments.

“We are seeing clear opportunities for superior returns in European development-stage life sciences companies, a non-cyclical sector marked by an undersupply of investment capital.

“Forbion IV attracted both new and existing blue-chip investors. New investors include UK based Pantheon, Dutch institutions ASR Insurances and the TNO Pension Fund, Nordic investors Formuesforvaltning and KLP, and some undisclosed North American institutional investors. Existing LPs European Investment Fund and development bank KfW also returned in the new fund. We look forward to working alongside all our Fund IV investors at what is an exceptionally exciting time for our business.”

Robbert van de Griendt, General Partner and Head of Investor Relations and Impact at Forbion, commented:

“The successful fund-raise for Forbion IV is testament to the investor appetite for our specialist investment strategy and to our team’s unrivalled experience and long standing track record in European life sciences investing.

“We’re delighted to welcome back returning LPs and extend a warm welcome to new investors in Forbion IV. We are actively working on a number of Fund IV investments and look forward to putting capital to work across an exciting pipeline”

ENDS

About Forbion

Forbion is a dedicated life sciences venture capital firm with offices in The Netherlands and Germany. Forbion invests in life sciences companies that are active in the (bio-)pharmaceutical space. Forbion’s investment team has built an impressive performance track record since the late nineties with successful investments in over 50 companies. Forbion manages well over EUR 1 billion across ten funds. Forbion is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. Besides financial objectives, Forbion selects investments that will positively affect health and well-being of patients. Its investors include the EIF, through its European Recovery Programme (ERP), LfA and Dutch Venture Initiative (DVI) facilities and the KFW through the ERP – Venture Capital Fondsfinanzierung facility. Forbion operates a joint venture with BGV, the manager of seed and early stage funds focused on Benelux and Germany. www.forbion.com

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