Two Swiss biotech venture capital firms, HBM Partners and NMT New Medical Technologies, have merged in what they claim is the first merger of substantial private equity firms.

The firms' combined assets amount to Sfr840m (€580m). Silvano Cominelli, an investment adviser with HBM Partners, said: "Where biotechnology is concerned, we think size will matter even more in the future than it has in the past. Scale will become the dominant factor. The per company investment is increasing and we cannot look to the stock markets for help."