UK hosts European BioEquity conference

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Scottish Equity Partners and Scottish Widows Investment Partnership have joined Scottish Enterprise as part of the host committee for BioEquity Europe 2004. BioEquity Europe 2004 was hosted in Edinburgh on 17 and 18 May, the first time the event has been held in the UK. The conference represented the largest single gathering of professional financiers and potential funders for the life science industries in Europe over the last year. In Scotland the bioscience industry has an average growth rate of more than 20% per year and employs around 26,000 people. Brian Kerr, director of SEP's specialist healthcare & life sciences investment group, stated that the conference was more upbeat about the prospects for the life science industry than any time in the last two to three years and the general consensus amongst investors is cautiously optimistic. He went on to assert that the European bioscience industry is catching up with the US in terms of volume, although US investments still out numbered European investments around three to one. The values of investment rounds in Europe are generally on a par with the US in the sub-$50m range, although the US still sees the majority of rounds above this range. Kerr continued to outline that with the IPO market opening up in the UK the trend for trade sales to US biotech companies is likely to diminish.