Diamond Biofund has set up a NT$10 billion investment fleet to launch global mergers and acquisitions. The Chairman William Lu announced yesterday (10 Aug.), Diamond Biofund will cooperate with domestic and foreign financial holdings, life insurance, funds and overseas capital, etc., before the first quarter of next year to raise more than tens of billions of M&A and development funds, the establishment of two investment companies, focusing on the latter stage of the development project, to build a 'diamond-class' biomedical investment fleet.
According to Lu, the global biotech market will reach US$3.2 trillion in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 12.8%. Taiwan's biotech capital market has grown more than tenfold in 16 years since the promulgation of the "Act for the Development of Biotech and Pharmaceutical Industry" in 2007, and is expected to double in the next five years to more than NT$3 trillion, which is an amazing potential.
Diamond Biofund will be officially listed at NT$40 on 19 September, and will raise NT$4 billion. Yesterday, a pre-listing corporate briefing was held, chaired by William Lu, who made the above announcement.
Lu said that the $4 billion expected to be raised from follow-on offering and the company will cooperate with domestic and foreign financial holdings, life insurance, funds in country and overseas to raise NT$10 billion to NT$16 billion in M&A and development funds by the first quarter of next year, and to set up two investment companies with capital sizes of NT$5 billion to NT$8 billion in the future.
In terms of strategy, Lu pointed out that the two investment companies will invest in or merge and acquire late-stage development projects over a period of eight to ten years, and will target seven major investment targets, such as innovative technologies and platforms, the first and best medicines, advanced medical devices, innovative medicines, and nucleic acid medicines.
Diamond Biofund has focused on investing in innovative companies in biotechnology, advanced medical medical devices, and agricultural biotechnology. The company has supported seven biotech start-ups spun off from six of Taiwan's top universities and research institutes, and has donated more than NT$600 million to support the cultivation of high-level talent and medical research, and has supported two biotechnology start-ups with market capitalisations of more than NT$30 billion. Diamond's cumulative after-tax net income from 2020 to 2022 reached NT$9.739 billion, net income per share NT$14.09, and dividends NT$9.58.
Lu said that in the past six months, Diamond had invested in two more biotech companies, one of which is a vaccine adjuvant company, ImmunAdd Inc., with stakes of about 20%, and the overall group's investment amounted to about NT$200 million, with a shareholding of up to 50%. The other is a U.S. gene therapy company, with an investment of US$1 million to participate in the company's C-round of fund-raising.
Diamond Biotech is Taiwan's first venture capital firm to go public, with a capital of NT$6.35 billion, and will handle a pre-listing stock auction from 30 August to 1 September.
