SAUSALITO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / July 9, 2019 / ​​​​First Colombia Development Corp. ("FCOL") (OTC PINK: FCOL) today announces the appointment of Mario Gobbo to its board of directors.

Christopher Hansen, founding CEO and president of FCOL, stated, "We are grateful that Mario Gobbo has agreed to join our board given his decades of experience in banking and corporate finance in the healthcare and bioscience sectors. This expertise is especially relevant to our business plan and will be of great value to FCOL as we continue moving into the next phase of our development."

"I am delighted to become involved with First Colombia Development Company as a member of the board," stated Mario Gobbo. "I expect the next few months, in particular, to be very exciting, as we move from planning into action within the burgeoning medical cannabis market, and I look forward to contributing valuable input to the long-term direction and growth of FCOL."

Mario Gobbo, First Colombia Development Corp. Board of Directors

About Mario Gobbo

Mario Gobbo has 35 years of banking and corporate finance experience in healthcare and energy. His expertise encompasses venture capital and private equity as well as investment banking and strategic advisory services. Currently, he is the founder and owner of Castruccio Advisors. He is also on the board of Zavarovalnica Triglav, the largest Slovene insurance company, spearheading healthcare insurance in Central Europe and, previously, was chairman of the board and chair of the audit committee of Helix BioPharma, a Toronto-listed biotech company developing interesting novel complex biomolecules to combat various cancers. As an executive director, he was also on the board of Lazard Brothers, the London branch of the international investment bank.

Mario Gobbo participated in a study of the Malaysian medical devices industry, authoring a paper on the subject as part of a World Bank project. His work in the healthcare sector has spanned many aspects of the industry. While managing director for Health Care Capital Markets and Advisory with Natixis Bleichroeder in New York, from 2006 to 2009, he secured transactions for the bank's M&A and equity capital markets pharmaceuticals and life sciences group. He obtained mandates for several IPOs and follow-on transactions on NASDAQ, as well as advisory assignments for health care and medical devices companies. When with the International Finance Corporation, a World Bank Group institution dealing with private sector investments, the team he led completed several highly successful equity and loan investments in biotech and generic pharmaceutical companies and funds in India, Latin America, China and Central Europe. From 1993 to 2001, he was with Lazard in London, where he created and managed their Central and Eastern European operations, including Turkey. Mr. Gobbo advised on M&A, fundraising and privatization efforts for several key firms in the region, including transactions for the pharmaceutical companies Pliva, Bosnalijek, Lek and Krka and investments in the APDC Biotech fund, now renamed VentureEast, one of the first Indian life sciences funds, and BVCF, a highly successful and innovative healthcare fund in China. Prior to Lazard, he worked with Swiss Bank Corporation International Ltd. in London, where he worked on the IPO of Ares Serono, the Swiss biotech company, subsequently sold to Merck KgaA. He was also on the investment committee of AHF, an India-focused health care fund, Ocimum Biosolutions/Gene Logic, an Indian contract research organization, and CellPraxis, a U.S./Brazilian stem cell research, privately owned firm.

Mario Gobbo holds a Bachelor of Arts in organic chemistry from Harvard College, a Master of Science in biochemistry from the University of Colorado and an MBA, a Master of Business Economics and a PhD (Management) from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

This press release is not an offer of securities, or a solicitation for purchase, subscription or sale of securities in the United States of America or in any other jurisdiction in which it would be unlawful to do so.

For more information:

www.FirstColombia.com

Investors:
+1 (415) 729-1720
investors@firstcolombia.com

Media:
media@firstcolombia.com

SOURCE: First Colombia Development Corp.