Corange fund stays independent
The Corange-affiliated Global Life Science Limited Partnership said it would not be affected by Roche's planned acquisition of Corange Ltd., announced last week. The fund will remain "very much at arm's length," assured Hanns Peter Wiese, the fund's managing director. Corange chairman Curt Engelhorn started Global Life Science in October with his family's investment of DM25 million (US$14.8 million). Its two other investors - Bayerische Vereinsbank of Germany and ING Barings of the Netherlands - contributed equal amounts, bringing the fund's total to DM75 million. A second round of funding is scheduled to close by the end of the year, Wiese said.
He said Global Life Science will invest in Germany, Europe, the U.S. and Israel and will concentrate only on life sciences. The fund has reviewed about 150 projects and thus far has committed only $4 million. It invested $3 million in the Oxford Bioscience Partners fund and made a $1 million investment in Exelixis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.) in the functional genomics company's $15.8 million April private placement...