Science of success

Over the last two decades, biotechnology entrepreneur Professor Sir Christopher Evans has moved from the laboratory to the boardroom, building a business empire in the process. A charismatic figure, his new venture brings him to the Gulf, where he aims to make Qatar a regional centre for medical science.

I'm an unusual beast, a hybrid," admits Professor Sir Christopher Evans as he settles into a plush sofa at one of Doha's finest hotels.

"I am a scientist through and through - it's like riding a bike in that even if you haven't ridden for 30 years you don't forget," he explains. "However, I have all the skills of commerce and know how to sell products and understand markets and how to finance businesses, manage balance sheets and how to secure finance."

A quick glance at the Welsh multi-millionaire's track record supports his claim to financial savvy. The biotechnology entrepreneur has spent the past two decades establishing over 50 science and technology companies worth over $4.5bn, which have between them developed more than 200 new medicines. Along the way he has picked up a host of awards, including a knighthood, and made small fortunes for himself and his investors.

Today, he is in Qatar to present his latest project to a new swathe of potential investors, and his commitment to the venture is infectious. He'll need all the enthusiasm he can muster, too - after conquering the bioscience markets of the UK, Europe and the US, Evans has chosen an Arabian Gulf state with little to no background in the sector, as the location for his next endeavour.

"For the next 10 years of my life this is what I want to do," he insists with a smile. "I am excited about building one or two companies in Qatar that are world-beaters, enough for US and European companies to want to come here to invest. I've done Britain, Europe and the US and I will replicate the business model I have used."

Evans' tried-and-tested formula rests on the establishment of an entity that will work on the development and sale of biomedical products. The idea formed after he was invited to the BioQatar Symposium 2008 by Dr Tidu Maini, chairman of Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) and Dr Eulian Roberts, managing director of the park, who he knows from his days studying at Imperial College London.

The event was organised in a bid to attract biotechnology ventures to Qatar to build its medical sector, and can be considered a success - Evans is keen to open a base in QSTP for Excalibur Group Holdings Ltd, a London-based fund management and corporate finance business of which he is chairman.

He is in the process of drawing up a proposal detailing how Excalibur could move its 20-strong team of scientists, private equity experts, corporate financial practitioners and venture capitalists to the country. Such is his profile, he receives around a thousand business opportunities for investment each year through his network of contacts - opportunities which he is planning to channel into the Qatar project.

"We have built companies from nothing up to billions of dollars, we've financed them, floated them around the world and closed transactions," he says. "I will set up a parallel headquarters in Qatar and staff it for the first five years with several of my most senior people. I will spend a lot of time here personally to build it, and we will use our office as a hub for other Middle Eastern activities."

Evans aims to open Excalibur's headquarters within the next six months and execute at least two transactions before the end of 2009, according to the first phase of a five-year plan.

Within two years of investment, he says, the group will be launching new medical products and expanding across the healthcare market.

Evans admits that the venture will require "hundreds of millions of dollars of investment". He expects the bulk of this investment to come from within Qatar, to ensure the country remains in control of any businesses that are developed, but points out that the Middle East "with its own demographics of diabetes, obesity and cancer" represents a market with immense potential.

"The key is to take the Qatari brand to the top of the pile in the Middle East in terms of medical science," he explains. "The idea is that everybody ultimately concludes that when it comes to medical science, research and development, and medical companies, the Qatari vision is the right one and works."

To further ensure the success of the project in Qatar, Evans says he aims to recruit a significant number of Qataris in the first two years, and will ensure the group's operations are compliant with Sharia law. He also plans to help formulate regulations to enable biomedical companies to float on Qatar's stock market, using experience gained when he was involved in composing legislation to allow biomedical firms to join the London Stock Exchange, in 1991.

Four years earlier, Evans had launched specialist enzyme company, Enzymatix, one of the UK's first biotechnology companies, in Cambridge, a city which has since grown to attract one of the biggest biomedical clusters in the world.

In 1994, Evans was able to split Enzymatix and float the two entities, Celsis International and Chiroscience, for a combined value of $242m. He used some of the proceeds to found Merlin Biosciences in 1996, a leading European venture capital firm specialising in medical sciences which has helped create over 35 companies worth over $4.5bn. The firm presently manages over $643m of investments around the globe.

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