Charter launches fund-raising

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Charter Life Sciences sent out a PPM last month for a $200 million-targeted second fund, PE Week has learned. The firm has hired E.L.K. Capital Advisors as its placement agent, according to sources familiar with the firm.

Charter has invested more than $30 million of its $66 million inaugural fund, raised in 2003, according to Thomson Financial (publisher of PE Week). The firm is run by Managing Directors A. Barr Dolan, Donald Harrison, Fred Schwarzer and Nelson Teng. It primarily invests in Series A and Series B life sciences companies. It splits its investment money evenly between medical devices and pharmaceuticals.

The firm has made nine investments since its inception, but has yet to have an exit, according to Thomson Financial. Portfolio companies include drug-eluting stent company Amaranth Medical and drug development company APT Pharmaceuticals. The firm could not be immediately reached for comment. —Alexander Haislip