FastVentures Buy-Out
2006-11-01
Management-buy-out at SOLVO
SOLVO Biotechnology announced that with the support of international angel investors the management and founders of the company have purchased all SOLVO shares owned by the companies' only institutional investor, FastVentures B.V. in an MBO transaction completed this month. Over 75% of Hungary's largest independent biotech company is now owned by Hungarian individuals, founders and employees. Erno Duda, president and CEO of SOLVO said "Venture Capital money was crucial at the early stages of the company. We have been profitable for three consecutive years and wanted to broaden our possiblities in the development of new products." Attila Varkonyi of FastVentures added "MBO transactions are quite rare among biotechs and this deal was the first of its kind in the region. SOLVO was our only biotech investment but provided us with a higher yield than most of our IT investments."
About FastVentures
FastVentures was founded in July 2000 by a group of individual investors to provide equity financing to fast growing Hungarian companies and help entrepreneurs create and build enduring value. FV has a team of over a 20 individual investors and a prominent financial institution to complete the initial founders circle. FV is focused on seed and early stage investments in the fields of IT, Communications and Life Sciences. To date, the Fund has invested a total of approximately EUR 3.5 million into its portfolio companies.
About Solvo Biotechnology
SOLVO Biotechnology is a privately held company specializing in pharmaceutical and biotechnological R&D related to membrane transporters and Multidrug Resistance in cancer and other diseases. SOLVO's professional team of over sixty experts consists of medical doctors, pharmacists, biologists, chemists and economists. The company's laboratories are located in the Biological Research Center (BRC) in Szeged and the Central Hungarian Innovation Center (CHIC) in Budars.