France Evotec Receives 150 Million Euro Loan from EIB

The financing covers three core pillars, namely research and development activities, equity investments and the construction of a manufacturing facility devoted to biologics: J.POD® Toulouse, France (EU).

It follows on from an existing €75 million loan facility from 2017.

It is an unsecured loan facility tailored to Evotec’s strategic plans.

Evotec SE and the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced today that an unsecured EIB loan facility of €150 million has been granted to support the company’s research and development activities, equity investments and the building of the new J.POD® biologics manufacturing facility on Evotec’s Campus Curie in Toulouse, France.

This new financing of €150 million reiterates the EIB’s supports for Evotec, a company that it already backed in 2017 with financing of €75 million. This new agreement will be signed in Toulouse during a visit of the site on which the new biologics manufacturing facility will be built.

As a life science company focused on the research, development, and manufacturing of novel precision medicines, Evotec aims to create global access to first- and best-in-class therapeutics. The company works in partnership with all top 20 pharma companies and more than 800 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, and other healthcare stakeholders to achieve a better understanding of disease and deliver novel and more targeted therapeutic approaches regardless of therapeutic modality.

The EIB funding specifically supports Evotec’s business strategy through a unique, innovative and flexible financing structure including a low fixed interest rate plus a reward-sharing component for the EIB. The loan with a total volume of up to €150 million will be invested over a period of three years and each tranche will mature seven years after drawdown. Evotec will use the financing to fund its internal research and development activities and equity investments, as well as the new biologics manufacturing facility, J.POD® Toulouse, France (EU).

By providing funds for proprietary research in a broad range of currently underserved therapeutic areas, the EIB financing will enable Evotec to initiate additional innovative research and development activities and to create new partnering opportunities, taking advantage of its precision medicine platforms. Since 2016, Evotec has also been driving medical innovation as an operational investor in early-stage biotechnology companies — spin-offs, joint ventures and independent startups. The EIB financing will enable Evotec to further broaden its portfolio, which currently spans over 90 active projects across more than 30 companies worldwide.

On the manufacturing side, the EIB financing will support the construction of a highly innovative facility for continuous biologics manufacturing at Evotec’s Campus Curie. J.POD® Toulouse, France (EU) is the second facility of its kind and the first in Europe. It will bring advanced biomanufacturing to the European Union and will deliver much-needed clinical and commercial manufacturing capacity for biologics. The construction of J.POD® Toulouse, France (EU) is also being supported by the French government, the Occitanie region, Bpifrance, the Haute-Garonne prefecture and Toulouse Métropole with the provision of up to €50 million.

Chief Financial Officer of Evotec Enno Spillner commented: “We are excited to enter into this second financing agreement with the European Investment Bank. By funding transformational projects in key areas of public interest, the EIB is an important driver of innovation in the European Union. We are honoured and excited to be able to create new research and development partnering opportunities and establish Europe’s first J.POD® biologics manufacturing plant through the innovative financing model from the EIB on highly attractive terms. This new agreement with EIB builds on the excellent relationship we have developed as part of the first financing agreement entered into in 2017. The EIB’s support will help us deliver on our mission: Together for Medicines that Matter.”

EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle said: “We are very pleased to support Evotec's investments in research, development and innovation with this second financing agreement signed with the EIB. It demonstrates our commitment to supporting European biotech companies at the cutting edge of innovation in a sector marked by very strong global competition. This EIB investment will also have a significant impact on activity in the Toulouse region, as it will help to finance a 12 000 m 2 plant that will create more than 200 highly skilled jobs.”

The transaction will be signed by members of Evotec’s Management Board and EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle at a ceremony on Evotec’s Campus Curie in Toulouse today. This financing agreement, as well as a previous loan of €75 million granted by the EIB in 2017, has been developed in cooperation with kENUP Foundation, a non-governmental organisation supporting innovation in Europe.

The EIB is working to put the European Union at the forefront of the next wave of innovation, particularly in the health sector. In response to the COVID-19 health crisis, the EIB made €6 billion available for health sector investments to support medical infrastructure, additional research activities or other financing related to vaccines and treatments. In 2022, out of €8.4 billion of financing in France, it devoted 31% (€2.7 billion) to innovation financing. As the EU climate bank, the EIB is one of the main fund providers of the green transition to a more low-carbon and sustainable growth model.

Evotec is a life science company with a unique business model that delivers on its mission to discover and develop highly effective therapeutics and make them available to patients. The company’s multimodality platform comprises a unique combination of innovative technologies, data and science for the discovery, development and production of first-in-class and best-in-class pharmaceutical products. Evotec leverages this “data-driven R&D autobahn to cures” for proprietary projects and within a network of partners including all top 20 pharma companies and over 800 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, and other healthcare stakeholders. Evotec has strategic activities in a broad range of currently underserved therapeutic areas, including neurology, oncology, and metabolic and infectious diseases. Within these areas of expertise, Evotec aims to create the world-leading co-owned pipeline for innovative therapeutics and has to-date established a portfolio of more than 200 proprietary and co-owned research and development projects from early discovery to clinical development. Evotec operates globally with more than 4 500 highly qualified people. The company’s 17 sites offer highly synergistic technologies and services and operate as complementary clusters of excellence.