King Pin 2012

Following on from the success of last year’s event, Abchurch was delighted to again receive an invite from Dorsey & Whitney LLP, to attend the 2012 King Pin Tournament. The Abchurch team, consisting of Adam, Mark, Quincy, Jo, Olly B and Oli H, were one of eight companies competing for this year’s trophy.

Considering the Abchurch team had enjoyed a sneaky practice session a couple of days before the event (where Mark had manage to produce a ‘Turkey’ for those in the know with the bowling lingo), the Abchurch team’s collective performance was somewhat of a disappointment. Having headed into the evening in buoyant spirit, the phrase ‘gutter ball’ was repeatedly heckled behind the Abchurch team’s lane and was fair testament to the bowling on show.

BDO LLP came away eventual winners having fielded what can only be fairly described as five potential hopefuls for the Great Britain 2012 bowling team. Aside from the action on the lanes, Roger Gregory and his colleagues again hosted a fantastic evening’s entertainment, allowing everyone to catch up with friendly faces and some new contacts.

Special thanks must again go to the Dorsey & Whitney team for inviting us to attend. We look forward to returning the favour at our Future Faces event on April 19th!


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Abchaps FC downed by man strong Dow Jones

On Tuesday 13 March Abchurch and Dow Jones played out a goal fuelled 5-A Side football match at the Power League in Docklands, Canary Wharf. The Dow Jones team ended up as narrow winners with the extra player and match fitness proving the crucial difference between the two sides in the 11-9 thriller.

Dow Jones fielded a team with familiar names such as Tommy Stubbington, Peter Evans and Iain Packham contacts that the Abchurch team have conducted many a telephone briefing with. The match also provided introductions to Michael Haddon, Mike Wright and Alexis Flynn.

The Abchurch team was on the back foot from kick-off, however through some intricate passing and resilient defending, the ‘Purples’ were never more than two goals away from levelling the score. Some unlucky Abchurch strikes which rattled the post and cross bar, which on any other day would have broken the nets at Power League meant the Dow Jones ended up as deserved winners in a physical but well tempered contest.

The Abchurch team would like to thank Dow Jones for such a competitive encounter, and hope this was the first of many football contests to come and with a couple of new signings and some extra training, Abchurch FC will be a force to be reckoned within the after work football arena.


Jamie Hooper

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Sachs Forum European Life Science CEO Forum for Partnering & Investing

March 2012 - Zurich
Adam Michael and Jamie Hooper represented the Abchurch Life Sciences practice by attending the first Sachs Biotech Investment Forum of the New Year in Zurich. As always the event was excellently attended with both private and listed biotech companies, a broad spectrum of the finance community, representatives from the medical profession and the occasional PR practitioner.

The format of the Sachs Forum gives attendees the best possible chance to maximise their time in Zurich with an efficient one-to-one meeting system, themed panel discussions, and networking facilities throughout the day. With over 200 companies attending, and a strong contingent of European life science investors, delegates at Sachs were kept very busy.

The panel sessions stimulated quality debate for both the day and evening networking (over a glass wine and canapés), covering such topics as; the resurgence of platforms technologies over products; the latest interactions between big pharma and biotech; and the current popularity of the French biotech industry with investors.

The one-to-one meeting system enables delegates to pre-arrange meetings with potential collaborators and investors, or to just help increase someone’s knowledge on a particular technology. Frequently compared to speed dating the platform gives attendees a fast, sharp opportunity to interact with numerous delegates in a more structured setting than the networking hall. The half hour sessions keep meetings to the point.

While times are still tough in life sciences, with capital hard to raise, and public markets shying away from life sciences, events like the Sachs CEO Forum give companies in the sector a real opportunity to present their case to investors and partners and maintain momentum across the industry.

One thing is for certain: the Swiss venue for the conference continues to garner strong support from both the vibrant and sophisticated finance community, and the local, world-leading, pharmaceutical industry.

Jamie Hooper

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