Facts concerning MSBI

Details on the tri-university, $26 million capital venture fund

McGill, Sherbrooke and Bishop's universities are uniting for a Canadian business first. The three universities are creating an independent venture capital firm called MSBI. The following fact-sheet provides some essential details:

• MSBI is an acronym for McGill, Sherbrooke and Bishop's Innovation.
• MSBI is a new venture capital firm with an initial capitalization of $26 million.
• MSBI will provide seed and early stage venture capital to commercialize discoveries in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, bioinformatics, software and communications and networking technologies.
• The creation of MSBI has been made possible through a $15 million grant from Valorisation-Recherche Québec (VRQ).
• The remaining $11 million fund has been raised from MSBI's limited partners.
• MSBI will be headquartered at Suite 510, 2000 McGill College Ave., Montreal.
• MSBI has a right of first review over some100 research innovations per year.
• MSBI aims to invest in about 10 research innovations annually.
• MSBI will have a renewable lifespan of 10 years.
• Institutions are free to decide whether or not to collaborate with MSBI on any specific project.

The partners:

• Seven limited partners will hold MSBI shares in the following proportions, related to overall research funding and investments of each institution:
• McGill University: 53%
• McGill University Health Centre (MUHC): 19%
• Université de Sherbrooke: 14%
• McGill-affiliated Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital (JGH): 8%
• Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Sherbrooke (CHUS) : 3%
• McGill-affiliated Douglas Hospital : 2%
• Bishop's University: 1%
• Most of McGill's MSBI shares will be held by the University's Martlet Research Trust.
• Each partner will obtain MSBI Inc. dividends according to their share ownership.

The people:

• Mark de Groot is president and CEO of MSBI; Joe Rouse is MSBI senior vice-president.
• Members of MSBI Board of Directors include: Jan Peeters, CEO of Olameter; Ian Soutar, vice-chair of Pembroke Management Ltd.; Paul Gobeil, vice-chair of Metro Richelieu Inc.; Mark de Groot; Louis Lagassé, president of Gestion Portland-Vimmy; Gilbert Drouin, VRQ president and CEO (as an observer).
• Members of MSBI's Business Advisory Board include: John Cleghorn, former CEO of the Royal Bank of Canada.
• Members of MSBI's Scientific Advisory Board include: Louis Siminovitch, founder of the Samuel Lunenfeld Institute of Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital.