Hunter snaps up 20% stake in Evans' biotech company

Sir Christopher Evans has bounced back from his arrest last week in the loans-for-peerages scandal with the disclosure that Sir Tom Hunter, the Scottish entrepreneur, has taken a 20 per cent stake in his biotech venture-capital company.

Sir Tom's backing is a vote of confidence in Sir Christopher and Merlin Biosciences, which has raised more than $1bn (£526m) of investment for life science companies since it was founded in 1997.

The Scotsman, who made the investment through his private equity group West Coast Capital, is thought to have paid at least £15m for his stake in Merlin. It takes Sir Tom, one of Britain's richest men, into the healthcare sector for the first time.

The arrest of Sir Christopher, one of Europe's leading names in biotechnology, followed a £1m loan he made to the Labour Party last year. He said he was "extremely shocked and dismayed" to have been caught up in the loans-for-peerages débâcle, given that he said he had never made any secret of his loan.

The loans embarrassment comes in the same year that Sir Christopher has been caught up in a separate investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. He has always insisted he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

Yesterday, he said Sir Tom would provide "strategic advice and financial support to help shape future projects". Merlin's recent successes include Piramed, a private cancer-therapy firm that signed a $275m development deal with the US biotech giant, Genentech, last year.