Burrill & Company Responds to Recent Press Coverage About Biopark Investment at Elk Run

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to recent press coverage concerning investment to support the development of a biobusiness park in Minnesota, Burrill & Company would like to clarify that investment discussions are still ongoing.

"We have been in active discussions for several months with one potential investor who has an interest in the project," said G. Steven Burrill, CEO, Burrill & Company. "However, contrary to the impressions conveyed in the press coverage, no decisions have yet been made and there can be no guarantees about the actual outcome at this point.

"We do have a strong interest in the State of Minnesota and independent of our continuing efforts at Elk Run, we have been actively investing in the State, creating jobs and establishing an innovative biotech venture capital community," Burrill added. "We have already established an office in Minnesota and are actively investing in promising start-up companies. Bringing more than $100 million into the State in the last year is evidence of our significant ongoing commitment to Minnesota, independent of the potential fund commitment."

Burrill & Company investments in Minnesota:

- Invested $8M in Nora Therapeutics, developer of women's reproductive health drugs and devices. Burrill's investment also brought an additional $17M into the company, as part of a syndicate with Prospect Venture Partners and Vivo Ventures.

- In 2009, Burrill & Company invested $5M in Segetis, a start-up company developing chemicals made from biomass. The total investment into the company was over $17M, with additional syndicate member Khosla Ventures. Segetis is located in Golden Valley, MN.

- This year, one of Burrill & Company's portfolio companies, GEVO, acquired a corn-based ethanol plant owned and operated by Agri-Energy in Luverne, MN. The transaction, worth over $20M, will bring the latest isobutanol technology into the State as well as generate dozens of new jobs.

About Burrill & Company

Founded in 1994, Burrill & Company is a San Francisco-based global leader in life sciences with activities in Venture Capital, Private Equity, Merchant Banking and Media. The Burrill family of venture capital funds has over $950 million under management and its merchant banking business is one of the industry leaders in life sciences transactions. Burrill is also the creator, sponsor and facilitator of leading industry conferences worldwide and publisher of a range of bio-intelligence reports including the monthly Burrill Report (www.burrillreport.com) and annual "State of the Industry" report, the latest of which has just been released entitled Biotech 2010-Life Sciences: Adapting for Success.

SOURCE Burrill & Company