Antwerp — Euro­pean private equity firm Gimv has announ­ced the forma­tion of a life scien­ces advi­sory board. The new board consists of six expe­ri­en­ced indus­try experts with exper­tise in drug and medi­cal device deve­lo­p­ment, company buil­ding, and mergers and acqui­si­ti­ons. Michel Darnaud (form­erly respon­si­ble for cardiac surgery at Liva­Nova), Peter Hirth (former CEO of Plex­xi­kon), Ismail Kola (former CSO at UCB), Kasim Kutay (CEO of Novo Holdings), Alex­andre LeBe­aut (CSO of Ipsen) and Edwin Moses (former CEO of Ablynx) will assist Gimv’s life scien­ces team with port­fo­lio deve­lo­p­ment, new deal origi­na­tion and gene­ral indus­try trend analysis.

Gimv has inves­ted in more than 80 life scien­ces compa­nies since 1982 and has consis­t­ently gene­ra­ted outstan­ding returns. Success stories include Ablynx, Plex­xi­kon, Devgen, Cova­gen Proso­nix and Endo­sense. As part of the broa­der “Health & Care” plat­form, Gimv’s life scien­ces team invests in biotech­no­logy and medi­cal tech­no­logy start-ups — both early and later stage. An invest­ment volume of 10–25 million euros per company is targe­ted, with finan­cing provi­ded through Gimv’s own balance sheet as part of an ever­green struc­ture. The Life Scien­ces team, led by part­ners Dr. Karl Nägler, Bram Vanpa­rys and Patrick Van Bene­den, curr­ently mana­ges a port­fo­lio of eleven compa­nies. The plan is to expand the port­fo­lio to 15 to 20 compa­nies in the coming years.

Dr. Karl Nägler, Part­ner Gimv Germany says: “The estab­lish­ment of this advi­sory board illus­tra­tes Gimv’s ambi­ti­ons in the fields of biotech­no­logy and medi­cal tech­no­logy for the coming years. At Gimv, we want to support ambi­tious entre­pre­neurs as part­ners. Through our new advi­sory board, we are expan­ding our network and adding value to our portfolio.”

Bram Vanpa­rys, Part­ner Gimv Belgium adds, “We are very plea­sed to estab­lish a close colla­bo­ra­tion with these renow­ned and successful experts, each of whom has alre­ady achie­ved great things in our indus­try. With this colla­bo­ra­tion, we succeed in further enhan­cing the value Gimv offers to pati­ents, port­fo­lio compa­nies and shareholders.”