C-Bridge hires ex-GSK executive as senior partner
C-Bridge Capital, a Chinese healthcare-focused private equity firm, has appointed Abbas Hussain, who was most recently global president for pharmaceuticals and vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), as a senior partner.
During a 25-year career in the sector, Hussain also held various other positions at GSK and served in leadership roles at Eli Lilly. He will contribute to C-Bridge’s efforts in identifying investment opportunities across biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and in vitro diagnostics.
The private equity firm, which focuses on late-stage growth and buyout investments, closed its second fund at the hard cap of $400 million in May. C-Bridge also has an affiliate called I-Bridge Capital that is currently deploying a $100 million fund in earlier stage deals.
Over the past year, the firm has made four other appointments at managing director level. Sean Cao and Jason Brown were hired to lead C-Bridge’s offices in Boston and San Diego, respectively. Meanwhile, Michael Keyoung and Tong Zhang joined in New York, with the former also becoming head of North America.
“Each of these individuals bring an important set of expertise and deep industry insights to C-Bridge Capital, helping us to invest strategically in the rapidly growing Chinese healthcare market, as well as grow these important scientific innovations across international borders, bringing them to patients in need,” said Wei Fu, the firm’s CEO, in a statement.
C-Bridge was founded by Fu in 2014. He was previously head of principal investment at Hong Kong-listed financial services company Far East Horizon and before that worked for Goldman Sachs and Temasek Holdings.
The GP raised $200 million for its debut fund in 2014 and within about 12 months, it was 90% deployed across eight companies. LPs committed a further $100 million in co-investment. Portfolio companies include Anrei Medical Device, Ascletis, and Sinovac. C-Bridge also invested in the company created through the merger of Third Venture Biopharma and Tianshizhen Biotechnology.
Two other investees listed onshore through reverse mergers earlier this year: Berry Genomics, a genetic test developer, and Chongqing Pharma, a drug distributor in southwest China.
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