Jeito Capital exits biotech company HI-Bio for $1.15bn

Private Equity Wire

Paris-based private equity firm Jeito Capital will sell its portfolio company HI-Bio, a clinical-stage biotech company focused on immune-mediated diseases, to Biogen for $1.15bn. 

The deal includes up to $650m in potential payments contingent on milestones being reached, Jeito said. 

According to a press statement, HI-Bio currently has several late-stage clinical development programmes for felzartamab, which aim to treat four IMDs: antibody-mediated rejection, IgA nephropathy, lupus nephritis and primary membranous nephropathy. 

Jeito said that its investment had enabled HI-BIO to make “significant steps in advancing its clinical studies for felzartamab”, specifically for IgAN and the completion of Phase 2 studies for PMN and AMR in kidney transplant patients. 

HI-Bio is based in San Francisco and oversees clinical development in the US and Europe. Jeito first invested in HI-Bio in 2022 in a $120m Series A financing round and again this January in a $95m Series B round; these involved other life sciences-focused investors including Alpha Wave Global, ARCH Venture Partners, Arkin Bio Capital, Monograph Capital and Viking Global Investors.  

Dr Rafaèle Tordjman, Founder and CEO of Jeito Capital, said that his firm’s focus on biopharma investments helped “meet the Big Pharma’s strong demand for breakthrough innovations and go faster to get therapies to the patient”. 

The full article is available here. This article was published at Private Equity Wire.