11/25/2004
Biovertis AG announces successful placement of silent partnership by Kapital and Wert group
Vienna - November 25, 2004 – Biovertis AG, a privately-held antibiotics development company, announces that a first tranche of € 3.5 million in atypical silent partnership funding has been raised by Austrian corporate finance specialist Kapital und Wert and will be transferred to the company by the end of 2004. A second tranche of € 3.5 million will be placed in 2005. The atypical silent partnership contribution had been committed by Kapital and Wert in the context of the company’s Series A financing completed in September 2004.
Biovertis aims to develop antibiotics with a novel therapeutic mode of action to combat microbes that are resistant to currently available medicines. The proceeds from financing will be used to mature the Biovertis antibiotics program up to phase I clinical development.
“We were able to raise the funds we had committed for 2004 in a remarkably short period of time,” commented Michael Stranz, member of the Executive Board at Kapital und Wert. “The strong demand reflects the trust of our investors in our team to carefully select companies with solid fundamentals and strong growth prospects. Moreover, we have already established a successful model for biotech investment with Intercell AG, the company co-founding Biovertis.”
Gertraud Unterrainer, CFO of Biovertis, further pointed out, “With the silent partnership we were able to substantially leverage the equity investment provided by our lead investor TVM. The joint resources allow us to further grow the company from a solid financial basis.”
Since its foundation in September 2003, Biovertis has already identified and validated a number of novel therapeutic targets for the development of antibiotics against multi-drug resistant strains of bacterial pathogens. Based on these, the Company is currently initiating screening activities for the identification and validation of drug candidates. In parallel, Biovertis is exploring opportunities to in-license antibacterial programs at the stage of advanced drug discovery or in pre-clinical development.
“In-licensing would not only accelerate the maturation of our pipeline but also the establishment of in house drug development competences. Demonstrated capabilities to rapidly move our internally generated drug candidates towards clinical trials will strengthen our equity story and attract additional investors to the Company”, said Erich Felber, CEO of Biovertis.
Contact details for Biovertis
Media:
Gertraud Unterrainer, CFO
Phone: +43 1 798 9303-103
E-Mail:
gertraud.unterrainer@biovertis.com
Investors:
Erich Felber, CEO
Phone: +43 1 798 9303-102
E-Mail:
erich.felber@biovertis.com
Contact details for Kapital und Wert
Media:
Andreas Eder
Phone: +43 1 599 34 - 115
E-Mail:
a.eder@kapital-wert.com
About Biovertis AG
Biovertis is a Vienna based, privately-held biotechnology company founded in September 2003 to discover and develop novel antibiotic agents. An alarming rise in antibiotic resistance to available therapeutics combined with inadequate development of new classes of compounds has created a serious medical need in this area. Based on premier platforms for target identification and structure-based drug design, Biovertis is building a proprietary pipeline of new antibiotics that target novel bacterial proteins and act specifically and effectively against a panel of the most relevant infective organisms including multi-drug resistant strains. A number of promising novel therapeutic targets have already been identified and validated. Subsequent screening programs for the identification and validation of leads are currently being initiated. Resulting candidates will be matured from preclinical assessment up to phase II clinical trials. Biovertis has secured funding from capital market sources of up to €12 million and has been awarded grants and loans from Austrian public institutions totaling more than €5 million. The company currently employs a staff of 15. For further information, please visit:
www.biovertis.com.
About Kapital und Wert Vermögensverwaltung AG
Kapital & Wert was founded in 1981 and is one of Austria’s biggest public investment corporations involved in corporate financing, asset management and real estate development. To date, 56 atypical silent partnership models have been established in a range of Austrian companies, making the Kapital und Wert group the market leader in such corporate financing activities. For further information, please visit: www.kapital-wert.com
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the judgment of Biovertis AG as of the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are no guarantee for future performance, and the forward-looking events discussed in this press release may not occur. Biovertis disclaims any intent or obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements.
