The meeting wasn't exactly rigged, and to be fair to Gil he had never told us to behave differently when an investor was present. But troubled investments were skated over rather than dissected, any disagreement was polite and swiftly resolved, and we talked a lot about BioOne.
This was good news for me, because I didn't have to talk much about Net Cop. It was good news for Art because he was allowed to expound upon his favourite subject. As usual, an open can of Diet Dr Pepper rested on the table in front of him, the dark purple liquid bubbling mysteriously in a glass. I had tasted Diet Dr Pepper once. It brought back memories of a particularly unpleasant chemical cherryade from my childhood. Art guzzled it all day.
'The Street can't get enough of BioOne stock,' he was saying. 'The price is up to forty-five. Now that's not quite the sixty dollars we were at a couple of months ago, but the whole sector's been trashed.'
'OK, and at forty-five dollars a share, what's the value of Revere's holdings?' asked Gil, for Mauer's benefit.
Art paused as though he hadn't really thought about the question before. 'I'd say just shy of three hundred million.'
'Good. And we hold, right?'
Art smiled. 'We hold. Harrison Brothers is confident that the stock will be back up to sixty by year end. And we haven't gone wrong holding BioOne stock yet.'
'Good. Now I think you'll all agree that we had a very interesting meeting with Jerry and Dr Enever last week. The Boston Peptides acquisition will be a useful addition to the BioOne drugs portfolio. Can I take it we support the deal?'
There were nods around the table. It was pointless me protesting. This was just a formality, and anyway I wasn't a partner. I didn't get a vote.
'Excellent,' said Gil. 'Do you have any questions for Art, Lynette?'
Lynette Mauer glanced quickly up at Gil, fluttered a little, and then spoke. 'I enjoyed the meeting as well. It does seem to be a very successful investment, Art. Well done. I see you have been looking after our money well.'
Art beamed.
'I do have one question. It's something I saw in the paper at the weekend about Alzheimer's. After the meeting, it kind of jumped out of the page at me.' She smiled sweetly at Gil, who returned her smile encouragingly. 'Where is it?' She shuffled through her papers, and pulled out a piece of torn-out newspaper bearing the New York Times typeface. Ah, here.' She scanned it quickly. Art fidgeted with impatience.
'Yes. It's something about galantamine,' she pronounced this word awkwardly, 'which is some kind of drug extracted from narcissi bulbs. It's supposed to be a more effective treatment for Alzheimer's than what's on the market at the moment. Do you think this might be a threat to neuroxil-5?'
Ah, no, not at all,' replied Art quickly.
'Why not?'
Art replied slowly, as if addressing a child. 'Neuroxil-5 prevents the build up of beta-amyloid in the brain of an Alzheimer's affected patient. It is this beta-amyloid that eventually kills the brain cells. No other treatment has succeeded in attacking this beta-amyloid in the way neuroxil-5 does.'
'I understand that,' said Mauer. 'But it says here that this drug galantamine inhibits cholinesterase, which is what kills brain cells. So which is it?'
'Which is what?' asked Art carefully.
'Which is it that kills the brain cells? The beta-amyloid stuff or the cholinesterase stuff?' Mauer looked at Art ever so sweetly, as though she was completely confident he would be able to answer.
Art was stumped. He didn't have a clue. He was just about to open his mouth, when Ravi jumped in.
'As you know Ms Mauer, Art is our BioOne expert,' he began. 'But I did happen to catch that article about galantamine too.' He had all our attention. Ravi's approach to these meetings was usually to keep quiet until he was spoken to. But now, as he addressed Mauer over his half-moon glasses, he spoke quietly and with authority. 'I think the truth is that Alzheimer's involves a complex tangle of different biochemical reactions in the brain. It is difficult to separate cause from effect. It seems likely that drugs like galantamine delay the onset of Alzheimer's. But, as Dr Enever explained last week, BioOne believes that neuroxil-5 neutralizes a gene that is behind all these processes, including the production of beta-amyloid and cholinesterase, and a lot of others as well. We won't know for sure until the Phase Three clinical trials are complete, when we can look at the effect of the drug on over a thousand patients rather than just the hundred or so tested so far.'
Mauer smiled at Ravi. 'OK, I understand, thank you very much. I'll watch this one with interest.'
I felt as much as saw Daniel suppress a snigger next to me. Art was trying to smile. But he was furious. His neck was reddening as though any minute his head would begin to boil. Ravi had been hired as a biotech partner after Revere had invested in BioOne. Art had made it clear that he should stay clear of BioOne, and Ravi had scrupulously done just that. Until now The trouble was, Ravi knew a lot about biotech, and Art didn't. We all understood that and now Lynette Mauer did too.
We moved on to new deals, of which the most interesting was Tetracom. Diane was an excellent presenter. She fed her audience information in such a way that they jumped to positive conclusions before she did. I knew there were still plenty of questions to be asked, but listening to her, it seemed that we should sign up on the spot. She finished her description with a note of caution, saying that she and I would be in Cincinnati the following week to clear up some detailed points. Mauer was impressed. We all were.
We came to the end of the meeting. Gil clearly thought it had gone well. He finished up by turning to Mauer.
'Lynette, perhaps you could tell us something about the Bieber Foundation's plans. As you know, we're raising a new fund next year. We look forward to welcoming you into it.'
Lynette smiled all round. 'Yes, there is something I'd like to say to all of you.' Gil stiffened first. This wasn't in the script. The rest of us looked on, our interest quickened.
'I'd like to thank all of you for the work you've done for us over the last few years. As you know, the Bieber Foundation has invested in your funds since the beginning. And your returns have been good, thanks in large part to BioOne.' A nice smile for Art. 'And of course to Frank Cook, who was responsible for so many successful investments.' She paused, out of deference to his memory.
There was a but. We were all waiting for the but.
'But we have had a recent change of policy. In future the Foundation will consolidate its investment in venture capital into two or maybe three firms. We will be reviewing all our venture capital investments, including Revere.'
The sweet smile stayed on her lips. Gil looked confused.
'I'm sure we can count on your continued investment in our funds, Lynette,' he said smoothly.
'Perhaps. But I wouldn't rely on it, Gil.'
'But, Lynette, our returns…'
'I have analysed your returns, and if you take out BioOne and Frank Cook's investments you are left with a performance that isn't quite as good as some of your competitors. You seem to have missed the Internet bus almost entirely.'
'Art, here, looked into that market, and concluded it was all hype. We firmly believe those companies are overvalued.'
'They've made a lot of people a lot of money,' said Lynette.
The firm had made some investments in the area in the early days. Frank had done a couple of successful small deals, and then Art came up with two spectacular disasters, which had set the firm's returns back significantly. Art's conclusion was that the problem was with the market, not his investing skills, and he had urged a policy of avoiding the sector. Frank and I had only been able to squeeze Net Cop through the investment committee by arguing that it was building the nuts and bolts of the Internet rather than an ephemeral 'community' in cyberspace. In truth, many of the Internet stocks had been hyped to the stratosphere. But most of our competitors had made money putting them there, and Mauer knew this.