An investment bank has made a deal with the University of Oxford that the financial press is calling a world first and a possible model for other universities. The bank, Beeson Gregory, will pay for one third of a state-of-the-art chemistry building in the heart of Oxford in return for a share of the profits from any spinoff companies in the next 15 years.
The new chemistry facility, for which the company is contributing more than $ 28-million, is under construction. Chemists from the discipline's three traditionally distinct branches -- organic, inorganic, and physical -- will work closely together in the new building.
Equity in Oxford spinoffs is normally split among researchers, investors, management of the spinoff companies, and the university on a deal-by-deal basis -- with the university typically getting 5 to 30 percent. Beeson Gregory will get half the university's share in any spinoffs.
Graham Richards, chairman of the chemistry department at Oxford, welcomed the bank's involvement and said: "We envisage that the university will enjoy significant upside from this powerful combination. This is quite a brilliant scheme and satisfies all our needs. It is very important that we are not selling out intellectual-property rights."
Beeson Gregory's confidence that it is getting a good deal is based on its own expertise in advising high-technology and biotechnology companies. It has appointed one of its senior executives to work on the campus with Isis Innovation, Oxford's wholly owned technology-transfer company. Isis currently has more than 300 continuing projects, and files one patent a week.
While corporate ties at American universities typically draw criticism from many scholars, the deal at Oxford has not been opposed.