Aisling Capital, a life sciences-focused private equity firm, is raising $400 million for its fourth fund, with a hard cap of $500 million, Fortune reports.
The New York firm has a vast portfolio of healthcare and life sciences startups, with some notable players including antifungal immunotherapy player Cidara Therapeutics; the much buzzed-about sepsis diagnostics maker T2 Biosystems; and Seragon Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Roche last year for $1.7 billion. It also had a healthy exit with Aimmune Therapeutics, which makes immunotherapy products for food allergies. It went public last week and has a $1 billion valuation.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
A document published on the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System indicated the fund has a $500 million hard cap, and that PSERS will commit $50 million.
This fund is actually smaller than its third, which launched in 2009 and raised $650 million. This could stem from a bit of a leadership shakeup, as Fortune points out: “One explanation might be that the core team is a bit smaller, with founder Dennis Purcell transitioning into a senior advisor role and the recent departures of partners Anthony Sun and Brett Zbar,” it says. The firm just hired Scott Braunstein, a senior VP at Pacira Pharmaceuticals, as its operating partner.
Aisling Capital’s internal rates of return for its previous three funds have been fairly strong:
- Fund 1 (2002), 20%
- Fund II (2005), 5.9%
- Fund III (2008), 25.3%
There’s no record yet of Aisling Capital’s fourth fund in any SEC filings. The company has yet to respond to MedCity News outreach for comment.
[IMAGE: Flickr user AMagill]
