Korea GPs invest $40m in Singapore biotech player
A group of Korean private equity investors has committed $40 million in funding to Cerecin, a Singapore-based biotech developer focused on neurotherapeutics.
The investors include SK Securities, Hana Financial Investment, Partners Investment, Arche Investment, K&T Investment, Shinhan Investment, IBK Capital, KB Financial Group, M Capital, and Medici Investment. Long-term backer Nestle Group also took part.
Ki Kab Kim, CEO of K&T, and Jae An, a senior manager at Partners Investment, will join the Cerecin board as director and observer. Meanwhile, Hana Financial has agreed to act as the lead manager in a potential listing on the Korea Exchange
Ceracin was founded in the US in 2001 as Accera and relocated to Singapore in 2018, when it received a $50 million round from Wilmar Ventures, an investment arm of Asian agribusiness conglomerate Wilmar International.
The company positions itself as a global leader in neurology therapeutics with extensive experience in lipid science. Wilmar is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of fatty lipids. Fatty lipids are essential components in the structure and functioning of the brain.
In the past year, Cerecin has received various US investigational drug approvals, initiated pilot studies, and graduated to phase-two trials for its Tricaprilin program, which targets Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, and migraine. The latest funding will support plans to take Tricaprilin to phase-three trials and approval.
“Cerecin is building a portfolio of new therapies that have the potential to deliver benefits to patients across a broad spectrum of diseases,” Jaewan Kim, CEO of Partners Investment, said in a statement. “There is a large opportunity due to the great unmet need for effective and well-tolerated drugs in neurological disorders.”
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