Sir Chris Evans buys £600k ReNeuron stake SIR Chris Evans, hailed as "Europe's most-succesful biotech investor," has bought a £600,000 stake in life sciences outfit ReNeuron, which uses hospitals in Dundee and Glasgow for its stem cell clinical trials. Evans, who made his name turning Chroscience into a $1 billion (£640 million) business, is taking a seat on the Aim-quoted company's board as a non-executive director. Details emerged yesterday of Evans" purchase, which was made as part of last month's £25.4m share placing. The placing was accompanied by some £7.8m in grants from the Welsh government, which Evans helped to negotiate in return for ReNeuron moving from Guilford in Surrey to Wales and building a manufacturing plant. ReNeuron was founded in 1997 and floated at the height of the biotech bubble in 2000, valued at some £60m. Merlin Biosciences, a venture capital fund launched by Evans, took ReNeuron private in 2003, before returning the firm to Aim in 2005. Ayrshire tycoon Sir Tom Hunter took a 20 per cent stake in Merlin in 2006. During last month's share placing, Evans also brought on board investors including Abingworth, Invesco and Tosca, as well as the £100m Wales Life Sciences Fund, which is managed by Arthurian Life Sciences, where Evans is chairman. Evans said: "I have been intimately involved with the creation and development of this company for the past 13 years. I am very confident in investing my own and my family's money in this company and I am delighted my management teams have also individually invested in these shares alongside some of the world's most-successful biotech investors, such as Neil Woodford of Invesco. Shares in ReNeuron rose 7.4 per cent or 0.25p to 3.65p.