New directors at Proteome Systems in IPO lead-up

Sydney-based biotech Proteome Systems has appointed two non-executive directors as it prepares for a long-awaited IPO.

Former Perpetual Trustees CEO Graham Bradley will become Proteome Systems' non-executive chairman, while Phillip Morley, who is retiring as chief financial officer of James Hardie Industries, will be a non-executive director.

Proteome Systems' founder and CEO Keith Williams said the company would benefit from the experience and management skills its two new directors hade acquired in fast-growing, publicly listed Australian companies.

After working initially with UBS Warburg, Proteome Systems has appointed Patersons Securities as lead manager and underwriter for its upcoming IPO, which is tipped to be worth upwards of $250 million.

Williams said the company was still on good terms with UBS, but had gone with Patersons because of its record in managing IPOs in the difficult biotech market. He said Patersons' team leader, Ray Shorrocks, had been managing biotech IPOs since the successful launch of Victorian biopharmaceutical company Amrad in 1996.

Williams said what set Proteome Systems apart from other companies was its size, in that it had two different but complementary businesses. "We make the toolbox, and we're working in drug discovery," he said.

The company was also unusual in that it would launch its IPO much later than most Australian biotech companies, he said, with the prospect of solid revenues from both its proteomics platform technology, and its diagnostics and discovery program. "We're narrowly focused on proteins, but it works for us because we were in the game early enough to be technology innovators as well as users," he said.