Structure
Holding company
Put a Swiss holding above the operating and IP companies to own and finance the group.
Holding companyBiotech & Life Sciences
in Switzerland.
In life sciences the company is mostly its intellectual property. Where the patents and trademarks sit, how they are held and licensed, and how the structure is taxed decide what the business is worth to a partner or an acquirer. We structure Swiss biotech and life-sciences companies around the IP, not around an off-the-shelf entity.
At a glance
Holding and IP structures built around the science and its value.
Independent since 2007 · IFLR1000-ranked · offices in Zurich and Zug · one partner per file.
- Core asset
- Patents, data, trademarks
- Structure
- IP held to be financed
- Tax
- International & licensing flows
- Protection
- Registered and enforced
The challenge
What this sector has to get right in Switzerland
A biotech's value lives in its IP estate (patents, regulatory data, know-how and brands), and the structure has to protect and mobilise that estate. Holding the IP in the operating company ties it to operational risk and makes it hard to license out or carve into a partnership; placing it in a dedicated IP holding company, owned through a Swiss holding, keeps it ring-fenced and financeable. Trademark and patent protection has to be filed and maintained in the right jurisdictions, and enforced when copied.
The tax dimension is inseparable from the structure. Cross-border licensing of IP, the migration of rights into a Swiss entity, and the substance behind that entity all interact with withholding, treaty access and the global minimum-tax rules. A structure that places IP in Switzerland without genuine substance and without planning the licensing flows invites challenge when the asset becomes valuable.
We build the holding and IP structure, register and protect the rights, and plan the international tax around real substance, so when a partnership, licence or acquisition arrives, the IP is held cleanly and the structure stands up to the buyer's diligence.
What this desk handles
The services this sector uses most
Each links to the service page itself. Most mandates here combine several; one partner co-ordinates them.
IP
IP holding company
Ring-fence patents, data and brands in a company built to hold and license them.
IP holding companyProtect
Patent & design protection
File and maintain patent and design rights in the jurisdictions that matter.
Patent & design protectionBrand
Swiss trademark registration
Register and protect the company and product trademarks.
Swiss trademark registrationDeals
IP due diligence
Establish and evidence clean title to the IP estate before a partnership or sale.
IP due diligenceTax
International tax structuring
Plan licensing flows, withholding and substance around the IP you hold.
International tax structuring
Talk to the desk
Speak to a partner who knows the sector
No intake form to a junior, no call centre. The partner who reads your enquiry is the one who has run this structure before, and the one who will own your file. Outline your situation and you will have a considered reply, with the likely route and the next step, within one business day.
Why Goldblum and Partners
Swiss depth, one accountable partner
When a deal comes, the buyer's first question is whether the IP is held cleanly — and that is decided years earlier. We build the holding and IP structure with the tax and substance to match, have been independent since 2007, and have been ranked by IFLR1000 every year from 2015 to 2026. One partner holds the structure, the IP and the tax together.
Structuring a biotech or life-sciences company?
Tell us about the science, the IP and your partners. A partner will design the holding, IP and tax structure around it, and reply within one business day.