Chinese pharma company invests $22m in TPG biotech fund

Shenzhen-listed Hepalink said in a regulatory filing that TPG Biotechnology Partners IV would make a combination of early and late-stage investments in biotechnology and life sciences, including companies focused on drug discovery, personalized medicine, medical devices, pharmaceutical services and industrial biotechnology. Prior to Hepalink's commitment, the fund had a corpus of $89.6 million.

A filing for an entity called TPG Biotech Equity IV was made to US regulators in July. The firm's previous biotechnology fund launched in 2008 with a target of $550 million. According to the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), as of March 2014, the fund had generated a net IRR of 16.3% and a net multiple of 1.6x. Other LPs include University of Michigan Regents.

Established in 1998, Hepalink produces active pharmaceutical ingredients for the likes of Sanofi-Aventis, Fresenius -Kabi, and Novartis. The company went public in 2010, immediately generating a 235x paper gain for Goldman Sachs, which invested $4.9 million three years earlier.

Chinese corporates, both state-owned and private-held, make commitments to private equity funds as part of efforts to build international exposure and gain access to new technologies, assets and expertise.

Earlier this year, Shanghai-listed Hainan Zhenghe Industrial Group agreed to invest $130 million in First Reserve's latest energy-focused PE fund. The commercial property firm said it wanted to expand its portfolio to cover petroleum and natural gas business. Under the agreement, Zhenghe not only has co-investment rights in North American deals but will also set up an Asian-focused fund with First Reserve.

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• Topics
• Fundraising
• Healthcare
• Greater China
• LPs
• healthcare
• China
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• TPG Capital
• LPs