Westlake Village BioPartners today announced the appointment of Peter Calveley to the position of Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Calveley will be responsible for managing the operational side of the firm, as well as enhancing strategic decision-making for Westlake’s portfolio of life sciences companies. Prior to joining Westlake, Mr. Calveley was a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Group at SVB Leerink based out of San Francisco and was responsible for companies in the biotech sector in the Western U.S. and Canada.
“We are excited to announce Pete Calveley as the incoming Chief Operating Officer of Westlake Village BioPartners. Pete is a seasoned and trusted financial and investment strategist and partner who consistently delivers results,” said Beth Seidenberg, MD, co-founding managing director of Westlake Village BioPartners. “Our objective in bringing Pete into Westlake was to recruit a team member who would assume multiple roles and responsibilities. In addition to his operational leadership, one of Pete’s key responsibilities will be further developing and leveraging co-investor, investment banking, and strategic partner relationships for our portfolio companies and for Westlake.”
“Westlake continues to lead the way catalyzing the burgeoning Los Angeles Biotech Hub and I am thrilled to be joining at this exciting time,” said Mr. Calveley. “With the recent launch of two new funds and one of the most experienced teams in life sciences R&D, Westlake is poised for even greater success. I am incredibly energized to work with Beth, Sean, and the entire Westlake team to build our portfolio of promising life sciences companies with transformative human therapeutic technologies and help take the firm to the next level.”
During his 12-year tenure in investment banking, Mr. Calveley developed strategy for and executed financing transactions for clients including initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, royalty sales, and convertible note offerings, raising more than $5 billion in capital. He also advised on and executed a variety of strategic transactions including buy-side mergers and acquisitions (M&A), sell-side M&A, and reverse mergers.
“Pete brings a wealth of industry knowledge and an impressive track record of successes for organizations at both the startup and institutional level,” added Sean Harper, MD, co-founding managing director of Westlake Village BioPartners. “He is uniquely qualified to drive operational excellence for the firm, as well as help deliver even greater results for our portfolio companies and partners.”
Mr. Calveley began his investment banking career with Merrill Lynch in the Global Healthcare Investment Banking Group in San Francisco after completing his MBA at UCLA Anderson School of Management. Prior to transitioning to the business side of biotech, he was a member of the drug discovery team at Alexion Pharmaceuticals. He holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in biochemistry from Queen’s University.
The announcement comes on the heels of the launch of two new funds from Westlake Village BioPartners totaling $500 million to advance transformative treatments. The first fund, known as Opportunity 1, is $70 million and allows Westlake to invest additional Series B or later-round capital into promising companies they incubated or invested in with their original fund, Westlake BioPartners 1 (WBP1). One example is an early-stage biotechnology company focused on developing precision medicines for genetically defined neurological and immunological diseases.
The second fund, Westlake Village BioPartners 2 Fund (WBP2), is $430 million and will focus on incubating and investing in approximately 12 Series A startups or co-lead Series A rounds with other investors, and will also allow for additional Series B or later-round investments in the most promising of these companies.
Since its founding in 2018, Westlake Village BioPartners has raised more than $820 million.