IP : IP Group Australia builds senior management team

IP Group plc (LSE:IPO), a leading developer of intellectual property based businesses, today announced the appointment of members to its senior executive team for its recently-established Australian operations.

The team will be led by Dr Mike Molinari, who has been appointed to the position of Managing Director, effective immediately. Dr Molinari will work closely with Alistair McCreadie, who has been appointed Chief Investment Officer, Asia Pacific, and with Dr Peter Grant, who is IP Group plc's Managing Director for New Business and Partnerships and Chairman of its Australian subsidiary. The new senior team will focus on building up the Australian and New Zealand operations as IP Group deepens its engagement with its nine university partners in the region: the Australian Group of Eight and the University of Auckland.

Dr Molinari was previously an Investment Manager at Brandon Capital, one of Australia's leading life science investors with >$500M under management across several funds. This followed three years with IP Group in the UK, where he was a Director at IP Capital, the Group's regulated subsidiary, where he had a range of responsibilities including overseeing the management of the Group's third-party funds and sitting on the board of two of IP Group's portfolio companies. Dr Molinari has a DPhil in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Oxford.

In his new role, Dr Molinari will oversee the Australian operations of IP Group following a landmark agreement in Australasia announced in May this year, which will see at least $200 million invested by IP Group in finding and developing companies arising from the world-leading research at the Group of Eight universities and the University of Auckland.

Mr McCreadie is a former Director of the business advisory firm Red Fire Investment Funds Management, as well as a non-Executive Director of Linius, a digital innovation company. Previously an Investment Manager at AustralianSuper, he is recognised as an expert in investments in disruptive technologies. In his new role, Mr McCreadie will be responsible for managing the funding requirements for portfolio companies in Australasia as well as assisting the broader IP Group portfolio and IP Group with respective funding requirements.

The Australian team is anticipated to grow significantly over the first twelve months, initially through building out a team focused on technology identification, development, and company building. Recruitment activity is focused on candidates with a strong technical background, typically a PhD or post-doc from a leading academic university, married to industry experience and proven commercial acumen.

Peter Grant, Managing Director New Business and Partnerships, said: 'I am delighted to welcome Mike back to IP Group, and to welcome Alistair to the team in Australia. Mike brings a wealth of knowledge and business acumen in the areas of technology, corporate finance and disruptive innovation, which will be very beneficial to IP Group Australia as we continue to develop and support technologies from our university partners.'

Mike Molinari added: 'I am excited to be joining IP Group Australia. The IP Group model is well-suited to the Australian and New Zealand environment, where the quality of the research at our universities and institutes is world-class. I look forward to working with our growing local team, the broader IP Group team globally, and our partners at the Group of Eight and Auckland universities to translate this research into world-changing technologies and businesses.'

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Jana Tsiligiannis
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About IP Group

IP Group is a leading intellectual property commercialisation company which focuses on evolving great ideas, mainly from its partner universities, into world-changing businesses. The Group has pioneered a unique approach to developing these ideas and the resulting businesses by providing access to business building expertise, capital (through its 100%-owned FCA-authorised subsidiaries IP Capital and Parkwalk Advisors), networks, recruitment and business support. IP Group has a strong track record of success and its portfolio comprises holdings in early-stage to mature businesses across four main sectors -- Biotech, Cleantech, Healthcare and Technology. The Company, which recently announced the acquisition of Touchstone Innovations plc, is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the code IPO.

For more information, please visit: www.ipgroupplc.com