8月29日早上，我们将贾兹制药公司（Jazz Pharmaceuticals）列入了《财富》杂志全球增长最快的上市公司年度排行榜，它的营收和利润的三年平均增长率分别达到68%和279%。因此，我很想知道私募公司Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR)九年前领投贾兹制药公司2.50亿美元这些年来的投资回报如何。

    当时，这是KKR第一次以风险投资人的身份进行投资，可能也是最后一次(取决于你如何看待其2012年投资无线立体声公司Sonos)。这也是这家私募股权巨头首次涉足生物科技行业。

    当时KKR以1.30亿美元领投贾兹制药公司B轮融资，其余较小的一些投资来自四家私募股权投资公司和Jazz原有的风投支持者。那时，Jazz事实上只是一个资本金充足的寻找产品平台。这家总部位于加州帕洛阿尔托的公司成立仅一年，是由Alza Corp.【2001年被强生公司(Johnson & Johnson)收购】的一群高管创立，计划收购治疗神经性和精神疾病的药物，同时实现商业化。此后贾兹制药公司再也没有接受过非公开投资，而是在2007年进行了公开上市。此时这家公司已经有两款产品获得了美国食品药品管理局(FDA)的批准，另有六款处于不同的开发阶段。

    当时，它的IPO价格是每股18美元，KKR选择继续持有所有股票。有段时间，这个决定看上去糟透了，因为2009年4月的时候，贾兹制药公司的股价一度低至每股0.60美元。但KKR坚信不动摇，当年9月甚至通过直接配售，买进了更多股票。

    第一笔售股是在2010年12月，规模很小，净额不到100万美元。然后在2012年3月，它卖出了近1/3的持股，2013年3月的售股规模更大。合计起来，KKR已出售贾兹制药公司股票获得了3.66亿美元。更重要的是，目前它仍持有5.5%的股权，市值约2.78亿美元(8月29日市场开盘时为2.71亿美元，但在写这篇文章时股价已涨了2%多)。

    这意味着KKR投资贾兹制药公司已经赚了超过5亿美元。也许在大多数的传统风险投资人看来，“现金的现金回报率”(cash-on-cash multiple)为4.7倍算不上赚得盆满钵满，但大多数的传统风险投资人同样也不会向一家尚未产生收入的生物科技公司投资1.30亿美元……  

    This morning we put Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ) atop our annual list of the world's fastest-growing public companies, with three-year average revenue and profit growth of 68% and 279%, respectively. So I was curious to see how Jazz had worked out for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), which led a $250 million investment into the company nine years ago.

    It was the first time that KKR ever played venture capitalist, and arguably the last (depending on how you view its 2012 investment in wireless stereo company Sonos). It also was the private equity giant's initial foray into biotech.

    KKR led the Series B round with a $130 million investment, alongside smaller investments from four other private equity firms and Jazz's existing VC backers. At the time, Jazz was really just a well-capitalized platform in search of product. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company had been founded one year earlier by a group of executives at Alza Corp. (acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2001), with plans to acquire and commercialize drugs for treating neurological and psychiatric disorders. It never raised more private funding, instead going public in 2007 with two FDA-approved products and another six in varying degrees of development.

    The IPO price was $18 per share, with KKR holding onto all its stock. For a while, it looked like a lousy decision. with Jazz trading at a low point of just $0.60 per share by April 2009. But KKR kept the faith, even buying more shares that September via a direct placement.

    Its first sale was a small chunck in December 2010 that netted less than $1 million. But then it sold nearly one-third of its stake in March 2012 and an even larger block in March 2013. All together, KKR has generated $366 million for its Jazz Pharma sales. More importantly, it still holds a 5.5% ownership stake that is currently valued at around $278 million ($271m when market opened, but the stock is up more than 2% so far).

    That means that KKR has made over half a billion dollars off of Jazz Pharmaceuticals. The 4.7x cash-on-cash multiple isn't exactly what most traditional VCs would consider a grand slam, but most traditional VCs also wouldn't invest $130 million into a pre-revenue biotech play...