Sage to list biotech fund

Sage Global Fund has launched a venture capital vehicle for ethical investments in biotechnol-ogy and agriculture.

Sage Global Fund has launched a venture capital vehicle for ethical investments in biotechnol-ogy and agriculture.

Sage director Charles Alexiou says the fund will contain only a few small-scale ventures that have a short timeframe to return on investment and have global applications.

Alexiou says the ideal timeframe for return on capital for these ventures is about three to five years.

Fellow Sage director David McDonald says the fund aims to fill the gap between research and development and a full commercial operation. He says it intends to list on the Australian Stock Exchange and is inviting investors to subscribe for 20 million ordinary shares at 50 cents each.

“We are only looking to raise $10-20 million,” he says.

Applications for shares can be made from August 10 2000 and the offer closes October 9 2000.

Minimum subscription is $2,000.

Primary consideration will be given to investing in companies where an ASX listing is contem-plated within 12 to 18 months. In other cases, a clear exit mechanism will be available.

McDonald says the fund targets the "lower end fee structure" and admits it will be "no easy task" to raise the capital but he believes there are enough investors interested in putting their money in ethical investments.

The fund is using the resources of scientific and technical advisers Aoris Nova whose knowledge of the biotechnology, health care and food industries will be used to give the manager an assess-ment of the science, intellectual property and commercial potential of the projects under consid-eration.