UroTec GmbH gains strategic partner – Profitable exit for High-Tech Gründerfonds and Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen

APOGEPHA Arzneimittel GmbH has, as strategic investor, purchased a majority stake in UroTec GmbH, acquiring the shares from the previous shareholders.

The rich-in-tradition, Saxony-based APOGEPHA pharmaceuticals company is an established producer of urology drugs and the ideal partner for the innovative UroTec company. UroTec is a biotechnology company established in 2005, which produces tissue replacement from the patient’s own cells to reconstruct diseased urinary organs.

Sören Liebig, Urotec’s managing director and founding shareholder, said: “With APOGEPHA’s participation we intend to expand UroTec’s globally leading role in the development and application of regenerative therapies in the field of urology.”  The focus in so doing is on obtaining European drug approval for UroTec’s first product, “MukoCell”, and marketing it internationally.

APOGEPHA’s investment also means lasting strengthening of Saxony as a biotechnology centre. This entails job creation in the areas of research, development and production.

Alongside UroTec’s founders, Sächsische Aufbaubank (Saxony Development Bank) as well as the investors specialising in early-stage finance High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) of Bonn and Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen (TGFS) of Leipzig have had key stakes in the company’s growth to date. As part of APOGEPHA’s investment all the shares of the above investors have now been taken over.

“We are pleased that APOGEPHA has recognised the potential of the UroTec technology and will now continue to accompany its development and market launch as a strategic investor,” says Marco Winzer, Investment Director at High-Tech Gründerfonds. This transaction demonstrates that the early-stage projects financed by HTGF can be of major relevance to medium-sized industry.

Sören Schuster of CFH Beteiligungsgesellschaft in Leipzig, which manages TGFS together with SIB Innovations- und Beteiligungsgesellschaft in the Dresden area, adds: “UroTec thereby now has the opportunity to significantly expand its business activity. This will contribute to further strengthening Dresden as a centre for life science.”

More information at https://www.urotec.de

Contact:
UroTec GmbH
Managing Director
Sören Liebig
Phone: +49 351 4383 2999
Fax: +49 351 4383 2997
info@urotec.de

About APOGEPHA Arzneimittel GmbH
APOGEPHA Arzneimittel GmbH is a medium-sized pharmaceuticals enterprise that specialises in the development, production and marketing of urology medications. The Dresden-based family business offers a wide range of products for treating urological diseases and is among the leading makers of urology drugs in Germany. With is principal product of Propiverin, an in-house development for treating urinary incontinence, APOGEPHA has international representation in 20 countries where marketing is handled by partners.  In 2009, the Company with its 168 employees generated revenues of EUR 39 million.

Contact:
APOGEPHA Arzneimittel GmbH
Kyffhäuserstraße 27
01309 Dresden
Steffi Liebig
Head of Human Resources and Public Relations
Phone: +49 351 3363497
Fax: +49 351 3363440
sliebig@apogepha.de
www.apogepha.de.

About Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen (TGFS)
TGFS is a venture capital fund with a volume of EUR 60 million and invests in business start-ups as well as young enterprises exclusively in the high-tech sector. Along with the provision of capital, these companies benefit from the experience of the fund managers who have assisted more than 100 businesses over the past 14 years. TGFS invests funds of the Free State of Saxony, supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the savings banks of Chemnitz, Leipzig and Dresden as well as by LBBW. www.tgfs.de

About CFH Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH (CFH)
CFH supports young, technology-oriented businesses with venture capital as well as SMEs in taking growth steps and making succession arrangements with client-specific financing solutions. In so doing, CFH offers both capital and customized mezzanine capital that is optimised for the respective business situation. CFH currently manages a fund volume of approx. EUR 250 million and acts as TGFS’s investment centre.

Contact:
CFH Beteiligungsgesellschaft
Löhrstraße 16
04105 Leipzig
Phone: +49 341 22038802
cfh@cfh.de
www.cfh.de

About SIB Innovations und Beteiligungsgesellschaft Dresden mbH (SIB-Dresden)
SIB is the investment subsidiary of Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden (Eastern Saxony Savings Bank in Dresden) and has since 2000 been investing in both established SMEs and new businesses. It thus focuses in eastern Saxony on growing enterprises that stand out in terms of a promising technological direction or significant market positioning. SIB currently manages four funds with a volume in excess of EUR 100 million and has investments in about 30 companies.

Contact:
SIB Innovations- und Beteiligungsgesellschaft
Thomas Schäfer
Leipziger Straße 116
01127 Dresden
Phone: +49 351 45598211
thomas.schaefer@sib-dresden.de
www.sib-dresden.de

About High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds invests venture capital into young, high-potential technology companies that convert promising research results into successful businesses. The seed financing provided aims to enable start-ups to take their R&D propositions to the development of a prototype, proof of concept and possibly market launch. High-Tech Gründerfonds initially invests an amount of EUR 500,000 and can invest up to a combined total of two million Euros per company in subsequent financing rounds. Investors in this public/private partnership are the German Federal Ministry for Business and Technology (BMWi), the KfW Banking Group as well as the six industrial companies BASF, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens, Robert Bosch, Daimler and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has approximately 272 million Euro under management.

Contact:
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Marco Winzer
Investment Director
Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2
53175 Bonn
Phone: +49 228 96568500
Fax: +49 228 96568550
info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de