Stem Cell Sciences relocates to Scotland

Some tartan-clad angels -- and a need to be closer to European customers -- are behind a decision by Melbourne-born company Stem Cell Sciences to relocate its headquarters to Edinburgh.

SCS said today that company CEO and founder, Dr Peter Mountford, and former general manager Hugh Ilyine had already hied themselves off to the Scottish capital, leaving Ilyine's successor, David Newton, to "ensure continued development of the company's Australian operations".

"The basic reason is to be close to our big pharma customers in Europe," Newton explained. "To be on their doorstep is to be in their thinking. Peter and Hugh have both been spending tremendous amounts of time on planes between Australia and Europe.

"We also want to direct the research in Edinburgh a bit more closely."

Easier access to capital was another consideration, Newton said. "Our major Australian investor from the last round wanted an overseas investor to come in. The difficulty in Victoria is that nobody felt able to assess our technology, and the value of our patent portfolio.

"We found some Scottish angels who persuaded us of the advantages of moving our headquarters to Edinburgh."

SCS' Melbourne operations have been moved into a holding company. Newton said the company would stay in Melbourne, and continue to grow its business and establish strong research collaborations, in line with its strategy of locating itself close to three international centres of excellence in stem-cell research: in Melbourne, in Edinburgh, and in Kobe, in Japan.

Asked whether the problems of distance, visibility and investor awareness that led SCS to relocate to Europe could frustrate Victoria's ambition to establish itself as one of the world's top five biotechnology precincts, Newton said, "The decision is right, but there is excellent research capability in Victoria, and we want to develop projects that will be based in Australia.

"Because it will be attractive for big pharma to work with us, there will be benefits for Victoria."

While the move also took SCS closer to the US, the company's strategy was to develop a strong position in Europe before tackling North America. "We don't want to go into the US too early and just get gobbled up," he said.