Bundestag Member Michael Meister (CDU/CSU) Meets the Working Group on Finance and Taxation

BIO Deutschland’s Working Group on Finance and Taxation met in Mannheim at the beginning of February. The group, which is chaired by Dirk Honold and Jan Schmidt-Brand, invited the Bundestag Member, Michael Meister, to this meeting with the aim of discussing various aspects of the parameters for funding innovative biotech companies with him.

Special solutions for the venture capital funding of innovative SMEs as an alternative to the Law on the Modernisation of Conditions for Capital Investments, which was rejected by the EU Commission last October, were among the topics discussed. During their discussion with Meister, the working group also made clear that in terms of loss carry forward, it would certainly be worthwhile for biotechnology companies if there were a consistent return to regulations based on the principle of performance in the future. In the concluding discussion, it was very clearly underlined that a further acquisition of equity capital for investments in innovations is urgently required. In this part of the discussion, the members of the working group discussed tax incentive models for this type of investment with the Bundestag Member.

Following these discussions, the working group dealt with the SME initiative by KPMG and BioRN, the programme for the CFO Summit Meeting, and current information from the sub-group on finance, among other topics.

The minutes of the meeting can shortly be requested by BIO Deutschland members from the association’s office. The next meeting of the working group will be held in Zurich on 18 May in the run-up to BioEquity.