In 1983
Alan was invited to evaluate projects being offered by UniQuest
Limited, the newly established commercial arm of the University
of Queensland.
He subsequently
chose to invest in two biotechnology projects being developed
by Dr Horst Doelle (top left) and Dr Peter Henry (lower left).
With a small band of North Queensland investors he purchased
the worldwide rights.
He then
set about to establish a public company called Queensland Science
& Technology Limited (QSTL).
Queensland
oil exploration pioneer Bill Siller gave Alan considerable assistance
to find an underwriter for the QSTL float.
Nevitts
of Brisbane finally agreed but they were unable to raise the
$A5 million required. But they raised $A3 million and QSTL was
born with a reduced program.
In four
years however, under Alan's management, QSTL expanded throughout
the world and the share price rose from $0.50 to $5.20 at its
high in 1987 before the "October Crash".
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