Forbion holds €470m first close for Growth Opp Fund II, expects €600m hard cap close in Summer

Jun 13, 2022 | News

European life science investment firm Forbion has held a first close of a €470m fund to invest in late-stage European life science companies.

The firm expects the vehicle to reach its hard cap of €600m over the Summer.

Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund II has attracted new institutional investors including pension funds PME and PMT, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Reggeborgh. Pantheon, Wealth Management Partners as well as Eli Lilly and Company are investing again as returning investors.

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The fund will provide private growth capital for mature clinical development-stage assets, furnishing pre-IPO funding to companies pursuing a public listing in the near-term, and injecting capital and hands-on capabilities to under-valued public companies.

The firm said it is looking to make 15 investments of up to €70m per deal.

Sander Slootweg, managing partner and co-founder of Forbion said, “The European market for late-stage, private life sciences investments is large and remains significantly underserved. The increase in the number of institutional investors committing to the Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund II is a testament to our successful track record in investing in late clinical-stage life sciences companies. A recent example is the sale of Gyroscope Therapeutics to Novartis for a total consideration of $ 1.5 billion earlier this year, after a mere nine-month hold period.”

Forbion manages over €2bn across multiple fund strategies.

It sealed its fastest fundraise in 2020 after hitting the €460m hard cap for Forbion V in just a few weeks.

Forbion hit a €360m final close for its fourth flagship fund in 2018, surpassing its €250m original target as well as the €183m it pulled in for Forbion III back in 2016.

Source: Alt Assets

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