Second Successful CFO Biotechnology Summit Meeting in Frankfurt

The German Stock Exchange in Frankfurt hosted the second nationwide summit meeting of biotechnology finance experts in the middle of April. The one-day forum, known in the sector as the Biotech CFO Summit, brought together some 80 experts from the finance sector of the biotechnology industry, who exchanged views during podium discussions and presentations. Subjects discussed ranged from the effects of the tax legislation to risks and obstacles involved in floating a company on the stock exchange and included the US capital market and company mergers.

The agenda of the CFO summit meeting was organised by BIO Deutschland’s Working Group on Finance and Taxation, under the management of Dirk Honold, Acting CFO of Brain AG, and Jan Schmidt-Brand, a member of the board of BIO Deutschland and CEO/CFO of Heidelberg Pharma AG. The event was generously supported by the German Stock Exchange as a platinum sponsor, the gold sponsors CMS Hasche Sigle, General Electrics Healthcare Financial Services, KMPG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and SAP, as well as by BIO Deutschland’s media partner, BusinessWire.

Commenting on this year’s summit meeting in Frankfurt, Jan Schmidt-Brand said, "This type of experts meeting is needed in order to make the business model of innovative biotechnology companies successful despite the currently more difficult conditions facing research and development intensive companies, especially when it comes to finding finance." Dirk Honold was happy to be able to offer this expert platform and said, "In the light of the latest corporate tax reform and the Law on the Modernisation of Conditions for Capital Investments, it is important that biotech financial experts intensively discuss ways how biotechnology companies can expand so that they can do justice to the great willingness to take risks on the part of entrepreneurs, staff and investors."