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Investments

Hein & Partner invests directly or indirectly through Hein Beteiligungs GmbH during below listed special situations into small and mid-sized enterprises (incl. startups) together with financially strong private and instituional investors.

  • Setup
  • Growth phases
  • Succession situation
  • Corporate crisis
  • Disposal of companies or corporate activities

We structure intelligent and tailormade financing solutions (incl. equity) in cooperation with strategic and institutional investors, banks and credit insurers.

Our investments take the profit from our know-how and ability to generate growth and shareholder value.

Example

Hyglos GmbH

Hyglos GmbH is a leading German biotech company offering products for the capture, detection and decolonization of bacteria and bacterial components based on its advanced, proprietary phage-ligand technology.

Beginning of 2009 Hein & Partner founded together with private Investors and the French Diagnostic-Group BioMerieux S.A. Hyglos Invest GmbH and managed the aquisition of assets and patents from the insolvent Profos AG, Regensburg .Hein & Partner secured the financing and signed a significant share of the new enterprise. Hyglos Invest GmbH owns actually one affiliated production company , Hyglos GmbH, and cooperates with well known international Pharmaceutical companies.

New diagnostic and antimicrobial solutions for bacteria and bacterial toxins

Hyglos GmbH is a German biotech company located in Biotechnology Center Bernried, Munich area. Applying our proprietary technology - whether independently or with partners from industry and science - we develop and produce highly specific phage recombinant proteins for binding and destroying harmful bacteria and bacterial toxins. The resulting products are used in food safety testing, removal of microbial contamination in food, human diagnostics as well as research applications. In the field of endotoxin detection and endotoxin removal, we bring new and outstanding solutions to our customers from biopharmaceutical research and industry overcoming limitations of currently used methods such as the LAL test.

Technology

The challenge

Bacteria occur in almost every ecological niche. While many of them are harmless and even beneficial, certain bacteria can invade organisms from any natural environment. Depending on the host's immune system and the type of bacteria and bacterial toxin, infections may pose a threat or even prove fatal. Major issues relating to bacteria are:

  • Multi-resistance to antibiotics
  • Outbreaks of food poisoning
  • Disruption to research and development and pharmaceutical production caused by bacterial components (endotoxins)

The solution

Hyglos develops products for diagnostic and antimicrobial applications based on proteins derived from naturally occurring bacteriophages. Using the power of nature for human benefit is nothing new. However, in contrast to the use of whole virulent bacteriophages, the application of isolated bacteriophage proteins provides significant advantages such as high specificity and defined activity. Furthermore, bacteriophage proteins can be engineered according to specific requirements.

Hyglos develops and provides new solutions for:

  • Clinical: Diagnostics, prevention and decolonization of infection-causing bacteria, including MRSA
  • Food: Microbiological testing (of e.g. E. coli O157/EHEC) and food preservation
  • Pharma & Research: Endotoxin removal and endotoxin detection

Since Hyglos was set up the company's development was very positive and the enterprise value increased significantly based on it's efficient research and products in the field of Endotoxin detection (MRSA).

2016 bioMérieux, France, a global player in in vitro diagnostics and world leader in industrial microbiological control, aquired the shares of Hyglos GmbH for 26 mio Euro generating an attractive invest multiple for the investors.

Example

HYpharm GmbH

2016 Hein Beteiligungs GmbH invested together with private investors into the startup HYpharm Gmbh.

General

HYpharm GmbH offers a unique technology portfolio for combat of pathogenic bacteria.

  • Focus in the first years are drug resistant bacterial strains, especially Methycilin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) which are responsible for thousands of infections in the hospital environment.
  • The Company owns proprietary technology in the field of bacteriophage derived proteins (lytic enzymes) which are able to destroy selectively pathogenic germs.
  • The technology is based on Bacteriophages which are viruses that attack only bacteria and can destroy these pathogens selectively.
  • The Company plans to invest for achieving clinical phase 1/2a (proof of concept) within the next 3 years.
  • In addition the German government support the activities by a grant managed by DZIF e.V. (Deutsches Zentrum für Infektionsforschung) to finance GMP production, pre-clinical trials and clinical phase I.
  • The Hyglos Technology will overcome currently existing resistance to antibiotics and will not raise new resistance, as the principle of killing is just lysis of the bacterial cell wall with no involvement in cellular metabolism.
  • Interest of potential investors and co-operations partners demonstrate the market needs in the business segment. Due to the extensive use of antibiotics more and more resistant strains occurred and will come up within the next years. Therefore further investment in development and marketing new and innovative antimicrobials agents will be accomplished by pharmaceutical global players. HYpharm offers a portfolio which addresses the market needs and the gap of “big pharma”.

Market Segment Decolonization

Human therapeutic applications fall into the  30 billion Euro antibiotics market segment and target the development of NCEs against multi-drug resistant pathogens such as Methicillin Resistant Staph aureus (MRSA), Vancomycin Resistant Staph aureus (VRSA),) and macrolide resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae (MRSP). Efficacy against multi-drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis will also be examined, as well as Anthrax. The “new” antibiotics market sub-segment, targeting multi-resistant organisms is growing by 30% per year. Multi-drug resistance is becoming increasingly frequent, particularly with hospital acquired infections (nosocomial infections) and is a matter of great concern for governments, the medical community and the public.

The HYpharm technology targets the market segment of decolonization of MRSA carriers (patients which enter the hospital and are contaminated with MRSA). The resistant strains of this bacterium are normally located on the skin and in the nose. Therefore decolonization by Hyglos HY-133 to eliminate resistant strains is the method of choice.

The market size for decolonization of only MRSA is estimated with 500 mio Euro only for Europe. Market potential has  been estimated by own research, market research organizations and by Pfizer Inc. A projection on the world market would generate a sales volume of more than 1 billion Euro per year.

Competitors in this market of decolonization are producer of classical antibiotics (e.g. Mupirozin) and other Biotech companies which try to exploit the phage technology. However, as HYpharm has developed a first new chemical entity (HY-133) which fulfils all relevant criteria to achieve regulatory approval, we assume that HYpharm Pharmaceuticals is at least 2 years ahead of any known competitor.