Life sciences business Evotec, based in Hamburg, announced that it has acquired a €150M unsecured financing facility from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
According to Evotec, the money will be used to speed up equity investments, R&D projects, and the construction of a new J.POD biologics production facility on the company’s Campus Curie in Toulouse, France.
The production facility will deliver urgently required clinical and commercial biologics manufacturing capacity to the EU and bring sophisticated biomanufacturing there.
The French government, the Occitanie Region, Bpifrance, the Haute-Garonne préfecture, and Toulouse Métropole are all contributing up to €50M to the development of J.POD Toulouse, France (EU).
The new contract will be signed in Toulouse, according to Evotec, during a site visit.
“We are delighted to support Evotec’s investments in research, development, and innovation with this second finance agreement inked with the European Investment Bank,” says Ambroise Fayolle, vice president of the EIB.
In a field with fierce international competition, Fayolle continues, “It shows our commitment to helping European biotech businesses at the forefront of innovation.”
As it will help fund a 12,000 square-meter plant that would generate more than 200 highly skilled jobs, the EIB investment, according to Fayolle, “will also have a substantial impact on activity in the Toulouse region.”
Through a financial structure that combines a low fixed interest rate with a reward-sharing component for the EIB, the EIB supports Evotec.
Each tranche of the loan, with a maximum investment amount of €150 million across three years, will mature seven years following the drawdown.
Evotec’s portfolio, which now includes 90 active projects across more than 30 firms globally, will be able to grow thanks to the EIB financing.
Evotec was initially established in Hamburg, Germany, as Evotec BioSystems GmbH, in 1993.
Professor Manfred Eigen, a Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Karsten Henco, Dr. Ulrich Aldag, Dr. Freimut Leidenberger, Dr. Heinrich Schulte, Professor Rudolf Rigler, and Dr. Charles Weissmann are some of the organization’s founders.
The goal of Evotec is to find and create highly efficient treatments and make them widely accessible to those who require them.
The business collaborates with more than 800 biotechnology firms, the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and other healthcare players.
The German company has strategic initiatives in a wide range of therapeutic areas that are currently underserved, including oncology, metabolic, and infectious illnesses, as well as neurology.
With more than 4,500 highly trained employees working at 17 locations throughout six nations in Europe and the USA, the company operates on a worldwide scale.
We are thrilled to enter into this second financing agreement with the European Investment Bank, says Enno Spillner, Chief Financial Officer of Evotec. The EIB is a significant force behind innovation in the EU by sponsoring innovative projects in vital fields of public interest.
“We are honored and thrilled,” Spillner continues, “to be able to develop Europe’s first J.POD biologics manufacturing facility using the unique financing mechanism from the EIB at highly attractive terms.
“The strong connection we have established as a result of the initial financing deal we entered into in 2017 is strengthened by this new agreement with the EIB. Together for Medicines that Matter is our objective, and the backing of the EIB will enable us to accomplish it, says Spillner.
Image Credit: Evotec
