Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

The £500m+ fund has been raised with Scottish retail tycoon Sir Tom Hunter, whose company West Coast Capital took a 20 per cent stake in Sir Christopher’s company, Merlin Biosciences, last year.

The funds are understood to have come from existing Merlin investors, along with Sir Tom’s backers and some new European investment.

The new fund represents an outstanding show of faith in Merlin and Sir Christopher by investors regardless of the shadow of two police probes that have yet to be resolved.

The Serious Fraud Office says it has still not completed an investigation into a loan allegedly made by Merlin while Sir Christopher is on bail in the ongoing cash for honours inquiry. he vehemently refutes any suggestion of wrongdoing on his or his company's part.

The new fund is part of a Merlin expansion strategy exclusively revealed to Business Weekly by Sir Christopher last year. Five healthcare firms – two in the UK, two in Europe and one in the US – in deals ranging from £30m to £300m, are the first healthcare companies reportedly the pair's sights.

Sir Christopher has already floated 20 businesses and pump-primed some of the biotech industry’s biggest success stories. He was the founding father of Cambridge biotechnology. Merlin has also raised three thumping funds.

Soon after revealing his expansion strategy to Business Weekly, Sir Christopher was already winning support from investors for his healthcare sortie. And earlier this year he teamed up with Sir Richard Branson to launch a stem cell banking business.