Vienna/Klagenfurt/Ljubljana – Horizonte Venture Management (Horizonte) is pleased to announce that its portfolio company BIA Separations d.o.o. (website: www.biaseparations.com) has signed a loan contract in the amount of € 8 million with the European Investment Bank (“EIB”) on March 1, 2009 under EIB’s Risk Sharing Financing Facility. According to EIB officials the loan constitutes the first direct loan of EIB to an SME at all. The signing ceremony took place in Ljubljana with the participation of Philippe Maystadt, president of EIB, and Slovene government officials.
The loan will be used by BIA Separations to continue the further successful development of its business including the set up of a new state-of-the-art production plant in Ajdovscina/Slovenia and the execution of R&D projects, an overall project volume of approximately € 24 million.
Dr. Matej Penca, Managing Partner of Horizonte Venture Management, commented: “This is another important step in the development of BIA Separations to become a global leader as supplier of “intelligent filters” to the biopharmaceutical industry. Through the financing from EIB BIA Separations is in the position to translate its excellent technological position into a leading market position in this growing industry.”
BIA Separations is the only worldwide manufacturer of Short Monolithic Columns optimized to meet the research and production needs of the biotechnology industry in the field of innovative liquid separation biochromatography. The company is headquartered in Klagenfurt, Austria and currently has two subsidiaries: the Slovene subsidiary, located in Ljubljana, consists of Research & Development as well as Production facilities and a sales office located in Wilmington, Delaware (US). Through both internal initiatives and external collaborations, this ISO 9001:2000 certified company pursues the highest quality standards in its research, development, production, and customer service efforts. The company’s analytical lab is FDA audited. BIA Separations has strategic co-operations with Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) and Boehringer Ingelheim.