Alexanders Securities to strengthen biotech stake

Alexanders Securities (ASX:ALE), a financial services firm previously focused on investments in shares and providing venture capital to companies, is re-positioning itself as a consumer healthcare and biotechnology company.

Alexanders recently appointed former AusBiotech head Dr Anthony Coulepis as its CEO, and at the company's AGM in March will ask shareholders to approve a change in name to Alexanders Healthcare and Technologies.

The company also increased its 25 per cent ownership of Stem Cell Technologies to 75 per cent. Stem Cell Technologies incorporates Cell Sense, an umbilical cord blood storage company, and Cell Developments, a research arm focused on adult stem cells derived from cord blood.

"Cell Sense is the only 100 per cent Australian owned company that specialises solely in stem cell cord blood preservation," said Coulepis, who has also been appointed as the CEO of Cell Sense and Stem Cell Technologies.

For just under $3000, the company will store a child's cord blood for 18 years, said Coulepis. "Even though I don't like using the word insurance, it is no different to insuring your house," said Coulepis. "At the rapid rate of stem cell technology development, who knows what these cells will enable you to do in a few years time."

Coulepis said that Cell Sense has a cash flow and Alexanders was now building R&D into its stem cell division. "So we buy the company cheap, we build it, develop IP and that then becomes creating value," he said.

To create this "blue sky", Coulepis said that Alexanders has entered into an agreement with a South Australian consortium which includes the Child Health Research Institute, the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science and the University of Adelaide to research the use of cord blood stem cells.

"I was after some research that was as the ground level," said Coulepis. "That was relatively cost effective, because Stem Cell Technologies is not a big company, we can't afford lots of dollars."

The consortium is researching the reprogramming of cord blood stem cells into regulatory T cells to "provide approaches for modulation of autoimmune response that gives rise to diseases such as diabetes," said Coulepis.

Aggressive growth

When asked if Alexanders is looking for M&A opportunities, Coulepis said "We're on a path of aggressive growth rather than M&A."

Coulepis said that could include collaborations, acquisitions, synergistic moves, or other opportunities.

"We're looking for the next stage of the organisation's development which is more than just organic growth," he said. "Organic growth is very slow and organic growth is subject to the whims of the success of the R&D and of the cash."

Coulepis also wants to develop "finance models" for the company, to provide an enabling mechanism for people who can't afford to store their child's blood.

ASX query

On November 21, the ASX queried why Alexanders had not lodged director's interest notices for newly appointed non-executive chairman Richard Poole and non-executive director Paul Page.

"The glitches that were picked up by the ASX was part the process of going from a 25 per cent shareholding to a 75 per cent shareholding," said Coulepis. "The change of management -- it's what any company goes through with these sorts of things."

While Alexanders admitted to the ASX that it had made a mistake, it added that "the company has instituted a reporting regime that call for all directors to report dealings in the company's securities at each and every board meeting and as a result of this review, the directors are fully aware of their obligations" and this will "ensure that all forms are lodged within the appropriate time frame".

Many hats

As well as his new CEO positions, Coulepis is a director of medical devices company Medical Developments International (ASX:MVP) and a strategic industry advisor for biotechnology consultancy firm Innovation Dynamics and Melbourne TAFE college the Box Hill Institute. He is also CEO and managing director for AGC Consulting.

When asked how he coped with all of these different roles, Coulepis said: "Believe me, what I'm doing now is almost like a holiday compared to what life was like at AusBiotech."

He said that he is "proactively focused" on Alexanders and "the other positions are advisory, which suits my style because it covers the spectrum I'm interested in."