Forbion Growth Opportunities I holds €360m final close

Loyens & Loeff provided legal advice, while Cebile Capital was mandated as placement agent.

The fund held a first close in July 2020 on €185m against its target of €250m, as reported, having first launched in February 2020.

The vehicle will target returns of 2.5x money and net IRR of 25%, managing partner and co-founder Sander Slootweg told Unquote at the time of the first close, investing in late-stage, Europe-based, life sciences and biotechnology businesses.

The vehicle has an advisory group composed of industry experts: Jan van de Winkel, CEO of Genmab; Tim van Hauwermeiren, CEO of ArgenX; Werner Lanthaler, CEO of Evotec; Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos; and Maarten de Jong, a managing director with Moelis & Co focusing on healthcare investments.

Forbion's flagship strategy invests in life sciences businesses at an earlier stage than its latest Growth Opportunities vehicle, including companies launched jointly by the GP. Forbion V held a final close in December 2020 on €460m, as reported. 

Forbion is headquartered in the Netherlands and has additional offices in Germany and Singapore.

Investors
Forbion said in a statement that LPs in the fund include corporates such as Eli Lilly and Horizon Therapeutics. The fund is also backed by institutional investors such as the Belgian Growth Fund, New Waves Investments, Wealth Management Partners, KfW and the European Investment Fund.

At its first close, the LP base was made up of 15 LPs, 60% of which were existing investors. At the time, 60% of its LPs were European, while 40% were from the US.

Investments
According to a statement, the fund will make three different types of investments: private growth capital for clinical-stage development businesses; cross-over capital to companies that plan to undertake an IPO in the near term; and capital injections to invest in publicly listed companies that Forbion regards as undervalued.

The fund was set to make investments of €15-30m on its first close, but can now invest up to €35m in equity per deal. The fund plans to target syndicated rounds of €100-200m, and to make 10-12 platform investments in its three-year investment period. It had three portfolio companies by the time of its final close: Ireland-based SynOx Therapeutics; Netherlands-based New Amsterdam Pharma; and UK-based Gyroscope Therapeutics.

People
Forbion – Sander Slootweg (managing partner, co-founder); Dirk Kersen (general partner of Forbion Growth I).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Venture
• Benelux
• DACH
• France
• Southern Europe
• Nordics
• Healthcare
• Netherlands