KALAMAZOO ? The Michigan investment climate is improving, according to a panel of private equity finance professionals who spoke Tuesday during the MichBio Expo in Kalamazoo.

With such recent successful sales to much larger company ? including Ann Arbor?s HandyLab and HealthMedia ? a signal has been sent to Wall Street that Michigan indeed has great deal flow, said Greg Main, CEO and President of the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

Now you?d expect Main to say positive things about Michigan?s economy because he leads the state?s economic development efforts. But his sentiments were echoed by Robert Payne III, a vice president with Credit Suisse First Boston, Credit Suisse manages several investment funds for the State of Michigan.

?There are lots of positives lately,? he said. ?Lots of successes.?

But perception of Michigan investment opportunities still remains murky, said Charles Rothstein, co founder of Beringea, a Farmington Hills based international private equity and investment banking firm.

?The outside world still is skeptical,? he told several hundred MichBio Expo attendees. ?The Venture Capital point of view is still a tough sell, even with Michigan institutions. All VCs hope we all do well to get them to back Michigan fund managers that then will invest in Michigan companies.?

Certainly one bright investment spot in the state is the burgeoning Life Sciences sector, Main said. This decade alone, some $500 million has been invested in Life Sciences companies, he said.

He also said a robust Venture Capital community has blossomed in the state over the last decade. And the Angel Investing community in Michigan, well not well organized, has made a lot of investments. But the state, he said, needs more seed capital funds to investment in start up companies.

The state government had been playing that role for the past few years with the 21st Century Jobs fund, which had come from a monetization of the Tobacco Settlement earlier this decade. Unfortunately in the new state budget, only $28 million has been set aside for seed investments, down from $75 million just two years ago. Main said the MEDC has reserved $5 million to $6 million for further investment in the portfolio companies invested in during recent years.

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