Christopher Evans (businessman)

Sir Christopher Thomas Evans OBE (born 29 November 1957) is a Welsh biotechnology entrepreneur.

For other people with the same name, see Christopher Evans.

Sir Christopher Evans
Born
Christopher Thomas Evans

(1957-11-29) 29 November 1957[1]
Port Talbot, Wales
NationalityBritish
Alma materImperial College London
University of Hull
OccupationBusinessman
Net worth£158 million (2006)
Spouse(s)married
Children4

Early life

Christopher Thomas Evans was born in 1957, in Port Talbot, to Cyril and Jean Evans. He was educated in microbiology at Imperial College London then obtained a PhD from the University of Hull, followed by a research fellowship at the University of Michigan.[1]

Career

Evans runs Merlin Biosciences (founded 1996), which manages investments in the biotechnology industry. He was the founder of Chiroscience (now merged with Celltech), Celsis, Enzymatix, and over 20 other life sciences based companies during his career.

Setting up Arthurian Ltd, it successfully bid to run the Wales Life Sciences Investment Fund, a £100 million 50/50 joint venture life sciences investment fund created to attract business to Wales. The fund has invested in and provided grants to ReNeuron, in which Evans has also invested.[2]

Awards

Twice elected "Cambridge Businessman of the Year", he was awarded the OBE in 1995 and knighted in 2001.

He made a £1 million loan to the British Labour Party during 2005. He was appointed a Honorary Fellow[3] of the Royal Academy of Engineering[3] in 2005. In March of that year, he was appointed by Gordon Brown to the UK Stem Cell Initiative. He was arrested on 20 September 2006 as part of police enquiries into the "Cash for Peerages" allegations,[4] but on 19 July 2007 the UK Crown Prosecution Service announced that there was insufficient evidence to bring the case to court.[5]

Personal life

Resident in Bibury, in the Sunday Times Rich List 2020 Evans was listed in 583rd place with an estimated fortune of £208 million. He has a wife and four grown children. As a boy, he attended the St Joseph's school in Port Talbot. In July 2018, jewellery and family heirlooms worth more than £1 million were stolen from his home in the Cotswolds. Evans offered a "substantial" reward for information leading to the thieves' conviction.[6]

References
  1. Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 1353. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
  2. "£50m investment fund to be examined". 2 October 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2018 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  3. "List of Fellows".
  4. "Profile: Sir Christopher Evans". 21 September 2006. Retrieved 25 January 2018 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  5. "Q&A: Cash-for-honours". 20 July 2007. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  6. Wood, Vincent (1 August 2018). "Biotech tycoon Sir Chris Evans puts up reward to find thieves who took £1m jewellery". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
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