Wellington Partners Life Science Team Hires Venture Partner

Wellington Partners has appointed Stuart M. Essig as a new venture partner for the life science investment team. Essig currently serves as chairman of the board of directors of Integra Life Sciences, a NASDAQ-listed company he built during his tenure as CEO to more than $800 million in revenues and $1.6 billion in enterprise value.

PRESS RELEASE

Wellington Partners today announced the appointment of Stuart M. Essig as a new Venture Partner for the life science investment team. Mr. Essig is a highly successful senior executive and entrepreneur, a renowned medical technology expert and a board member of several large US-based life science companies, as well as a former senior healthcare investment banker and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs. With the addition of Stuart Essig, Wellington Partners significantly strengthens its network in the global life sciences and medical device fields as well as its footprint in the US.
Mr. Essig currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Integra Life Sciences, a NASDAQ-listed company he built during his tenure as Chief Executive Officer (1997- 2012) to more than US$ 800 million in revenues and US$ 1.6 billion in enterprise value. Prior to joining Integra, he supervised the medical technology practice at Goldman, Sachs & Co. as a Managing Director, where he had served for ten years as a senior merger and acquisitions advisor to a broad range of international medical technology, pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients. Mr. Essig also is a member of the Board of Directors of St. Jude Medical Corporation and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Breg, Inc. From 2005 to 2008, he served on the Board of Directors of Zimmer Holdings, Inc., and from 1998 to 2002 on the Board of Directors of Vital Signs, Inc. (acquired by GE). Mr. Essig received an A.B. degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and holds an M.B.A. and a Ph.D. degree in Financial Economics from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business.
“I am excited to work with Wellington Partners, a leading European venture capital firm in the life sciences sector, which is also well recognized and respected in the US”, Stuart Essig stated. “Over the last couple of years, I have seen the Wellington life science team building an outstanding portfolio with many potential future sector leaders, and with the new fund Wellington Partners IV Life Science, which recently had a first closing and is intended to be further enlarged to a target size of € 120 million, Wellington Partners will be ideally positioned to benefit from the high degree of innovation and plenty of attractive opportunities for investors in the medical devices field in the German-speaking area and other parts of Europe.”
Wellington General Partner Dr. Rainer Strohmenger is very much looking forward to the collaboration: “We are highly honored to win Stuart Essig as a new Venture Partner for our life science team. He brings an outstanding combination of entrepreneurial track record, operational experience and M&A expertise, as well as a global network in the medical device world and intimate insight into several leading players in the sector. We expect this collaboration to contribute significantly to the further success of our portfolio companies.”

Further information: Dr. Rainer Strohmenger General Partner Tel: +49 89 21994116 Mail: strohmenger@wellington-partners.com
About Wellington Partners
Wellington Partners is among the most successful pan-European Venture Capital firms. With more than € 800 million under management and offices in Munich, London and Zurich, Wellington Partners invests in start-up companies throughout Europe that have the potential to become global leaders in the areas of digital media, resource efficiency and life sciences.
Since 1998, Wellington Partners has invested in more than 100 companies, including publicly listed firms like Actelion, Evolva, Wavelight (acquired by Alcon) and Xing as well as privately held companies like AyoxxA, Grandis (acquired by Novartis), immatics, implanet, invendo medical, mtm laboratories (acquired by Roche), Oxagen, Oxford Immunotec, Quanta, Sapiens, Sensimed, Supersonic Imagine, Symetis and Spotify. For further information, please visit www.wellington-partners.com.