ATS takes majority in GANYMED

Munich-based private investment company ATS has acquired a majority stake in German-based GANYMED Pharmaceuticals for an undisclosed sum.

The shares were previously held by a pool of investors including Ingro Finanz, KfW, Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg (LBBW), Nextech Venture, Varuma, VI Partners, WFT and a number of private investors from Switzerland and Germany.

GANYMED is a biopharmaceutical company offering antibody therapeutics for targets in solid cancers. The company’s lead antibody iMAB362 will enter a clinical trial for metastatic gastro-oesophageal carcinoma in Q4 2008.

Founded in 2001 as a spin-off from the Universities of Mainz and Zurich, the company has raised a total of €48.9m in equity across three funding round, the first two led by Nextech, and the third by VI Partners.

Dr Alfred Scheidegger, founding partner of Nextech Venture said: “We are very proud of what has been achieved with the syndicate of early investors’, financial, strategic and operational support together with the GANYMED team over a period of otherwise economically difficult years.”