A fine investment

Technology fund MCI Management has initialized its investment in the biotechnology sector through its acquisition of a 20-percent stake in Finepharm. Along with this zł.1-million investment, the fund will invest another zł.1 million in Finepharm this year after completing an analysis of its budget.

"This investment perfectly fits MCI Management's strategy of investing in the biotech and medtech sectors," said the company's director of investment, Piotr Kłodnicki.

MCI Management, which invests in e-commerce, wireless technologies, internet media and other online markets - has the option to invest another zł.5 million in Finepharm in 2009. The completion of this investment, which will depend on the firm's financial situation, would allow MCI to take over 60 percent of Finepharm's shares.

Finepharm, based in Jelenia-Góra, produces active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) which are used by the industry to produce medicines. "Biotechnology is just developing in Poland ... but the success of Bioton [the Polish insulin producer] proves how fast it can grow," Kłodnicki said.

MCI's zł.2 million will be spent on developing the company's infrastructure, its product portfolio (diet supplements and medicines) and on introducing the GMP (Good Manufacturing Processes) standard. "We want Finepharm to be a benchmark for the industry," Kłodnicki said. "In three years we want to take it to the WSE."

In February, MCI Management established MCI. Bioventures, a fund aimed at investing in the biotech sector. Recently the fund was granted a subsidy by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP). "It looks like this year we will estabilish a significant presence in the biotech and lifescience sectors," said MCI Management's president Tomasz Czechowicz said.