Biotechs may be seeing their valuations plummet, but Apollo Global Management still wants in. The asset manager has committed up to 1 billion euros ($1.04 billion) in capital commitments to Sofinnova Partners, one of Europe’s largest early-stage healthcare venture capital funds, to expand its presence in the sector.
After raising 472 million euros ($548 million) last fall in its tenth funding round, the European VC is entering a long-term strategic and financial partnership with Apollo, a private equity firm based in New York. Apollo will also acquire a minority stake in Sofinnova, with the transaction slated to close in the second half of 2022.
Apollo and its affiliates already manage more than $5 billion across the healthcare and life sciences industries, and the company said its commitment to invest up to 1 billion euros of capital in Sofinnova vehicles reflects the firm views that this space is a significant growth area.
Neil Mehta, partner and global head of strategy at Apollo, will also join Sofinnova’s board of directors once the deal closes.
Both firms are prominent industry players with decades of experience. Sofinnova currently has more than 2.5 billion euros under management, while Apollo had about $513 billion of assets under management in total as of March 31.