Novo Holdings, the parent company of Danish pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk, will invest approximately 100 billion won ($72 million) in a domestic bio-healthcare blind fund in Korea.
According to investment banking (IB) industry sources on Thursday, Novo Holdings has decided to commit capital to a 1.1 trillion won blind fund being raised by Premier Partners. The portion Novo Holdings agreed to invest in is the roughly 100 billion won allocation designated for overseas investors. This marks the first time Novo Holdings has participated in a Korean private equity fund (PEF).
Novo Holdings is an investment company wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and held about 161 trillion won in assets under management as of the end of last year. It is also the largest shareholder of Novo Nordisk, known for the obesity treatment Wegovy.
Novo Holdings offered a positive assessment of the Korean bio market. "Korea is a market with a well-established healthcare and life sciences ecosystem," said Amit Kakar, Asia Managing Partner. "It stands out in Asia in terms of technological competitiveness."
Premier Partners is an asset management firm with strengths in the bio-healthcare sector and has invested in companies including Medit, Vaim, ImmuneOncia, and Phraser Therapeutics. In 2016, the firm established a dedicated bio investment team.
"Novo Holdings has been identifying and investing in promising partners country by country," a Novo Nordisk official said. "They visited Korea earlier this month and the deal progressed through several meetings."
