FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - Thomas and Andreas Struengmann, who sold their Hexal generic-drugs company to Novartis AG. in 2005, plan to invest 500 million euros in German biotechnology companies, manager magazin reported.
'This is one of the key technologies of the coming years and the bad reputation that some of these companies have is to our advantage because most of them are undervalued,' the brothers were quoted as saying by the German magazine in an excerpt of an interview to be published on Friday.
The twin brothers already own stakes in 10 biotech firms, which are mainly developing cancer treatments, according to the article.
The Struengmanns said they may also acquire companies outside the biotech sector and did not rule out buying a stake in a DAX-listed company.
Still, they favour 'solid family-owned companies,' which they could help in their development as partners, according to the interview.
'We want to create something new, as we did with Hexal,' Thomas Struengmann said.
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