Future of Healthcare Investor Forum Highlights Investment Opportunity in UK Life Sciences

LONDON, January 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

• FTSE Healthcare Index outperforms wider indices in 2014 and over past five years 
• £1.25bn raised in life sciences IPOs and follow on offerings on LSE in 2014 
• Speakers to highlight strong fundamentals for sector, quality of UK science and supportive environment 
• George Freeman, Minister for Life Sciences, opens the market at LSE 

A new investor conference, the Future of Healthcare Investor Forum, will today bring together speakers from finance, the life science industry, government and public and private companies to highlight the opportunity presented by investment in UK life science. Hosted by London Stock Exchange and MedCity, the one-day conference is aimed at providing generalist and specialist investors with perspectives on the industry in the UK and future trends.

New statistics to be released at the conference show robust levels of UK public market activity in 2014 and healthcare outperforming wider indices for the last five years:

• £1.25bn raised in life science IPOs^[1] and follow on offerings on the London Stock Exchange in 2014 with 2014 witnessing a record level of capital raised in this sector since 2007.
• The FTSE Healthcare (AIM and All Share) Indices have significantly outperformed wider indices over the last five years. In 2014 the FTSE All Share Healthcare Index was up 10% vs. a 3% drop for the FTSE.

Cathrin Petty, Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking, EMEA, at J.P. Morgan, who will open the conference alongside Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor of London for Business and Enterprise, said: "The UK has all the right ingredients to create a successful and sustainable life science market: the science, the clinical development infrastructure and management. We now need the long term capital to fund it."

Michael Meade, Managing Director, Corporate Finance, Numis, said: "Investors' appetite for UK healthcare companies was strong throughout 2014. It was particularly pleasing that interest spanned the many sub-sectors of the industry - from biotech to specialty pharma, from diagnostics to medical technology, and from healthcare services to pharma outsourcing services, not forgetting the robust development of IP development specialists. IPO performance has generally been strong, and we expect that this will encourage more investors to look for opportunities within healthcare."

Dr Eliot Forster, Executive Chair of MedCity said: "As a region, we have confidence, ambition and large-scale investment in our life sciences base, and we are firmly in the world's spotlight. Businesses across the world are being attracted here by opportunities to partner with our academic research centres, NHS and be part of the accelerating process of commercialising their innovations. The opportunities for investors are tremendous."

Steve Bates, CEO of the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA), said: "The UK is a great place for life sciences: a globally competitive tax and fiscal environment, a collaborative and thriving ecosystem as well as prominence on the government agenda are all key ingredients for success and the BIA is delighted to support an event that will showcase the opportunity for investors."

Harriet Fear, CEO of One Nucleus, said: "The UK is clearly a global tour de force in life sciences with the largest number of drugs in the pipeline in Europe, a robust and exceptional history and future of creative innovation and of course it is the ancestral home of the likes of blockbuster drugs such as Humira."

Speakers at the Forum will include Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor of London for Business and Enterprise, George Freeman MP, Minister for Life Sciences, Andy Richards, Founder of Chiroscience and Vectura and a panel of investors and advisors including Polar Capital, Numis, SR One and Henderson Volantis.

The Forum is sponsored by J.P. Morgan, Numis and Citigate Dewe Rogerson with industry partners, BIA and One Nucleus.

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1. Subsectors included within 'Life Sciences' are pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical supplies and medical equipment

Notes to Editors 

The BIA has published an overview of the investment opportunity for life sciences in conjunction with the conference: http://bia.me/UKBiotechIndustryandPublicMarkets

Photographs from the opening ceremony are available from Citigate Dewe Rogerson.

Contacts

Chris Gardner/Sylvie Berrebi/Janine Chase
Citigate Dewe Rogerson

Tel: +44-(0)20-7638-9571
E-mail: chris.gardner@citigatedr.co.uk, sylvie.berrebi@citigatedr.co.uk, janine.chase@citigatedr.co.uk

SOURCE BioIndustry Association (BIA)