European Venture Capital Journal articles from February 2001

European Venture Capital Journal archives from February 2001

Opportunity knocks?(for European venture capitalists)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... As last year drew to a close many appeared relieved to see the back of the millennium year, a year that had started out in the thick of the Internet bubble, which burst well before the halfway point leaving in its trail as many winner as loser...

Brobeck Hale and Dorr opens in Munich.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Technology law firm Brobeck Hale and Dorr opened the doors of its Munich office on January 2. Partners Hubert Besner, Christian Breuer and Rainer Kreifels will staff the office. All three were previously with the technology-focused Munich-based...

UK pension funds up VC commitments.(venture capital)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... 6PRIVATE EQUITY COMMITMENTS BY UK PENSION funds have increased by 11 per cent to [pound]2.8 billion according to preliminary figures resulting from the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) annual survey of its members. David Gould,...

PE moves up a gear at Pinsent.
February 1, 2001... Pinsent Curtis is merging with Biddle with effect from the start of February and according to Pinsent's national head of corporate finance and head of private equity, Mark Greenough, this is good news for the private equity practice. Alongside...

European High Yield Assoc launches.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... The official launch of the European High Yield Association CEHYA) is to take place on January 16. EHYA will be chaired by Mostyn-Williams, who is also the managing director of AIG MezzVest. The EHYA has set itself out as a professional...

UK buyout figures for 2000.(management buyouts)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2001... Larger UK management buyouts reached an all time high of [pound]19.5 billion ploughed into 150 deals during 2000, according to research by KPMG Corporate Finance which looked at deals greater than [pound]10 million in value. The breakdown of...

Baring Central European Fund Closes.(Baring Private Equity Partners)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Baring Private Equity Partners has announced the first closing of its Baring Central European Fund at [epsilon] million. The target is [epsilon]150 million, which managing partner for the Central European Fund, Gyuri Karady, hopes to complete...

New name for Dresdner Kleinwort Capital.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Dresdner Kleinwort Benson Private Equity has changed its brand name to Dresdner Kleinwort Capital. This is the branding that Dresdner will use for its private equity business worldwide. Dresdner Kleinwort Capital is the sole private equity...

Mercury Private Equity sale finalised.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... THE LONG AWAITED MANAGEMENT BUYOUT of Mercury Private Equity completed on December 11. The transaction involves Mercury Private Equity becoming a new and independent firm and as such it has entered into a fund management agreement with Merrill...

F&C Ventures in waiting.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Rod Richards, managing director at F&C Ventures, notes that the soon-to-be-independent venture capital company is currently caught in a regulatory and administrative gap. Just days before Christmas an agreement setting F&C Ventures free of its...

Euro partnerships for Parallel Ventures.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Parallel Ventures, the co-investment mid market private equity firm, is close to finalising an-investment agreement with a Spanish mid market private equity house. This will be the fourth and, for the time being, final agreement since Paul...

Coller Capital to raise $1bn fund.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Jeremey Caller of the secondary player Coller Capital has said that it looks likely that the firm will raise a new fund, this time for $1 billion, probably round the summer with the aim of closing by Christmas. It is just 12 months since Caller...

Strained times at Morgan Grenfell PE.(Morgan Grenfell Private Equity's Deutsche European Partners IV fund)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Prospects for its usual rate of investment return look shaky for Morgan Grenfell Private Equity's (MGPE) [epsilon]1.5 billion fund, known as Deutsche European Partners IV (DEP IV), less than a year after the fund closed. This is because...

EVCA buyout survey.(European Venture Capital Association management buyout research)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Management buyouts are good for businesses and therefore good for a country's economic growth and the contribution of venture capitalists is crucial to the success of a buyout, according to a recent survey conducted by the Centre for Management...

Electra bows out of Kennet Capital.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Broadview, the financial services firm focused exclusively on the IT, communications and media industries, has announced that it bought Electra Partners Europe's half of their joint venture investment in Kennet Capital in November, and in so...

2M Invest buys Menire Advisors.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... 2M INVEST, THE COPENHAGEN STOCK Exchange listed Danish/American-based venture capital company, will acquire Menire Advisors, the company managing and advising Menire Corporation. Menire Corporation is a publicly listed Finnish fund of...

Alliance for Brainspark and Royal & SunAlliance.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Internet and technology incubator Brainspark and the Royal & SunAlliance insurance company have formed an alliance that will see Brainspark co-operating with Royal & SunAlliance's Global Ventures division, which was established last year and is...

Venture Partners becomes Northzone.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... VENTURE PARTNERS, THE NORWEGIAN AND Swedish venture capital firm, is changing its name to Northzone. The name change, says Bjorn Stray, is to reflect the firm's sphere of geographic interest within Europe and to avoid confusion with the Swiss...

EO acquires rival EPO.com.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... EO, the online share distribution platform for retail investors, has entered into an agreement to acquire EPO.com. Neither EO. nor EPO.com have disclosed the terms of the acquisition, that is an all-share deal valuing EO shares at [pound]1.50...

ABB launches incubator.(New Ventures)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... ABB has created a business incubator division called New Ventures as part of a wider restructuring in the ABB group. The restructuring, which aims to organise the ABB's business around its customers rather than its technologies, was announced...

Ibis wins Commonwealth mandate.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Ibis Associates, specialists in the analysis and development of business plans, has been awarded a contract by the Commonwealth Secretariat to develop business plan modules to assist small and medium size enterprises throughout the...

Ledstiernan opens in Finland.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Ledstiernan, a Scandinavian seed and venture capital company set up in 1993 as a partnership with the aim of investing mainly in the IT sector, has opened a new office in Helsinki, Finland. The move to Helsinki is motivated by a wish to get...

2nd UK tech VCT launched.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... British Smaller Technology Companies VCT2 has launched on the back of the success of the first fund. VCT1 raised [pound]13 million when it was launched two years ago and about half of that money has been invested since the fund was closed in...

lnnova/3 hits central Europe.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Innova Capital, the independent private equity manager, focusing on central Europe has launched Innova/3. The fund has a final target of between $200 million and $250 million, with a first close at $100million scheduled for around the end...

ADVEQ FOCUSES ON HIGH TECH.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... ADVISERS ON PRIVATE EQUITY LTD (ADVEQ) has announced the first close of its second European fund of funds, Private Equity European Partners II LP at [epsilon] 130 million. The fund is well on its way to reaching its target amount of 300 million...

New name and fund for G Partners.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Having fully invested its first [epsilon]45 million fund, G Partners, formerly Global Investment Partners, is in full swing for its second fundraising. With a target of between [epsilon]60 million and [epsilon]70 million, the new fund will be...

NOKIA TARGETS MOBILE INTERNET.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... The private equity arm of telecoms giant, Nokia has launched a $500 million fund, due to close at the end of the year. Unlike Nokia Venture Partner's first project, the new vehicle includes third party investors, including Goldman Sachs, BMC...

Quester VCT4 closes over-subscribed.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... QUESTER, THE INDEPENDENT UK VENTURE capital firm has raised [pound]53 million for its fourth venture capital trust, VCT4, exceeding its original target of [pound]50 million. The fund is structured along the same lines as the previous three VCTs...

Technology fund targets West Midlands.
February 1, 2001... Advantage West Midlands has announced the closing of The Advantage Technology Fund at [pound]7 million. The fund has been raised to encourage and support the development of technology-led businesses in the West Midland region. In creating the...

Index Ventures first closing at $191 million.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Swiss-based high tech and healthcare venture capital firm Index Ventures has secured $191 million in the first closing of its third fund Index Ventures II. The final target of Index Ventures II is $300 million. Index Ventures 1 was a $180...

FIRST CLOSING FOR VONTOBEL's FOFs.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... VONTOBEL EUROPEAN VENTURES, BANK Vontobel's third fund-of-funds, has undertaken its first closing at [epsilon]99 million. The eventual target for the fund, which Ulrich Geilinger at Vontobel says should be reached in the first quarter of 2001,...

Fund downsize for Raffaello PE.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Raffaello Private Equity has closed its first fund at [epsilon]50 million. The intention was to raise a total of [epsilon]100 million when the fund was launched in summer of 1999 but by September last year it was decided that to continue the...

INDUSTRI KAPITAL CLOSES FUND IV AT [epsilon]2.1 BILLION.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Industri Kapital, the Swedish private equity firm, has closed its fourth fund, called Industri Kapital 2000 Fund, at [epsilon]2.1 billion. This is a large jump for Industri Kapital, which stopped at [epsilon]750 million last time it raised a...

Mercapital: largest Spanish buyout fund.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Spanish private equity firm Mercapital Servicios Financieros has closed its second fund at [epsilon]600 million, making it the largest private equity fund in Spain to date, according to Javier Loizaga, executive partner at Mercapital. Merrill...

ProVen Media VCT launches.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... ProVen Private Equity, the independent venture capital firm that resulted from a management buyout from Guinness Mahon Group, which is now part of Investec, in 1998, is launching a new venture capital trust called ProVen Media VCT plc. ProVen...

epo.com investors jump into eo.com.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... BancBoston, Catalyst Fund Management & Research, Catella IT, Marshall Wace, Shore Capital, Trident Capital and Zebank are some of the institutional investors in epo.com that have swapped their shareholding for one in eo.com. eo.com bought its...

Clinovia sold to LVL Medical Groupe.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... F&C Ventures returned a multiple of eight times the cost of the institutional investment when it sold provider of home healthcare, Clinovia to LVL Medical Groupe SA, a pan-European home healthcare group, based in France. Clinovia provides...

Incisive exit for DKB.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... The IPO of Incisive Media on the London Stock Exchange's main list on December 15 effected a two-pronged exit for Dresdner Kleinwort Benson Private Equity (DKBPE). Incisive Media resulted from the merger of two of DKBPE's portfolio companies -...

BOLTON BRADY LIFTS BRIDGEPOINT.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... BRIDGEPOINT CAPITAL HAS EXITED ITS investment in the Bolton, UK-based facilities management business Bolton Brady by selling the business to Kone, the Finnish-based lift and escalator in a deal valued at [pound]19.5 million. Kone is a leading...

Caradon Bathrooms go to Sanitec.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Caradon Bathrooms, the Cheshire, UK-based division of the Caradon plumbing group has been bought by Finnish Sanitec Corporation for a consideration of [pound]82 million on a cash and debt free basis. The sale is for 100 per cent of the share...

Xworks first exit success.(sale of Formula-1.co.uk, motor racing website)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... XWORKS, THE LONDON-EASED E-BUSINESS incubator, launched last August has achieved its first exit from its portfolio of investments with the sale of Formula-1.co.uk, motor racing website, to the digital media and communications company, 365...

Marli provides Finnish exit for CapMan.(Vin Sprit buys Marli Group from CapMan)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... The sale of Finnish beverage company, Marli Group, to Swedish alcoholic beverage manufacturer, Vin Sprit, has presented an exit opportunity for the Nordic private equity house, CapMan. The total amount of the transaction was undisclosed. ...

OnMedica gets MediDesk.(acquisition)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... OnMedica Group plc, the European e-health company has acquired MediDesk Limited, a leading provider of web-based clinical software and information services to healthcare professionals. The acquisition provides an exit for MediDesk's...

CVC realises property investment.(sells shares in Building & Property)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... CVC HAS REALISED ITS INVESTMENT IN Building & Property, the major UK privately owned facilities management company, receiving a return of around 35 per cent on its original investment. Prior to the acquisition, CVC owned 75 per cent of the...

A careful exit for Sovereign.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... It has been a busy few months for Sovereign Capital. Following an active year-end with a name change and the launch of its third fund - see (EVCJ December/January fund news), Sovereign Capital, formerly Nash, Sells & Partners has sold its...

HPI SELLS STAKE IN OAMS.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Following the exercise of options by a third party, Swiss investment company HPI Holding has sold its 25 per cent stake in Odyssey Asset Management Systems (OAMS) for CHF2.7 million. OAMS is a rapidly-growing provider of IT solutions to private...

RBPE sells Rayner.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... The Royal Bank Private Equity and Lloyds TSB Development Capital have realised their investments in Rayner Food Group via a sale of the business to a management buy-in team. Headed by Michael Beard. Dresdner Kleinwort Capital (DKC) led the...

CANDOVER EXITS CLAVERHAM.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Leading buyout specialist Candover has agreed the sale of Claverham Group Limited, the Bristol-based defence and aerospace engineering business. The deal has returned almost two times Candover's original investment. Hamilton Sundstrand, global...

Letsbuyit.com lives to fight another day, or two.(receives more financing)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... The struggling Internet retailer, LetsBuyIt.com N.V. has been rescued from the brink of bankruptcy. Thanks to the successful closure of a [epsilon]4 million financing round to provide a guarantee to the administrators of the company, the...

People moves.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Vesta expands team Vesta Group's Internet business building organisation, Vesta Wireless Works has boosted its team with the appointment of Phil Terrett as chief operating officer. Prior to joining the company, Terrett was at Nortel Networks...

Nordic venture capital: Quality rather than quantity.
February 1, 2001... With a growing interest from foreign investors and corporate venturers, the Nordic region has a firm place in the European private equity and venture capital market. As the frenzy of early stage activity in the somewhat over-hyped Swedish and...

UK asset-based lending.
February 1, 2001... The UK asset-based lending market is gaining depth and maturity, despite threats proposed by the changes to the UK Insolvency Act. Asset-based lending (ABL) is increasingly becoming an attractive form of finance for many UK companies in the...

Dresdner Kleinwort Capital.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Dresdner Kleinwort Capital (formerly known as Dresdner Kleinwort Benson Private Equity) manages over [pound]4 billion in equity and mezzanine funds under direct and co-advisory management across Western & Central Europe, the US, Asia and Latin...

20:20 vision.(Internet business, 2000, 2001)
February 1, 2001... This time last year the Internet frenzy was at its height but investors today are faced with an entirely different investment and fund raising landscape as a result. The concept of 'Internet years' had gained widespread credence by...

Software and infrastructure investment versus B2B and B2C: as different as night and day. And if the future is software and infrastructure, beware the indiscriminate investor.
February 1, 2001... Paul Frew from Elderstreet, now part of Dresdner Kleinwort Capital, puts forward his case The burst of the dot.com bubble in spring 2000 is by now a familiar story. Companies that should never have received funding or gone to market were...

EO: Making a mark.(discussion with CEO)
February 1, 2001... Angela Sormani talks to John St John, chief executive officer of EO, the online financial services company, which has recently consolidated its position in the UK market following the acquisition of EPO. EPO is the online service that enables...

Groundbreaking German privatisation.(Nomura acquiring 114,000 railway workers' flats from the German government)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2001... Following its disappointing experiences with the Millennium Dome and Hyder, Nomura ended 2000 on a high note with the mid-December announcement of the signing of Germany's largest-ever private equity deal. Nomura's Principal Finance Group...

3 big hitters team up for Lafarge.(CVC Capital Partners, Advent International and The Carlyle Group)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2001... In late November, CVC Capital Partners announced that, together with Advent International and The Carlyle Group, it was to acquire a majority of Lafarge's Speciality Building Products division (LMS) for [epsilon]890 million. The vendor,...

Pubmaster baton passes to Pubmistress.(acquisition)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... No prizes were on offer for guessing the target in the sights of special acquisition vehicle Pubmistress, which in early December acquired tenanted pubs giant Pubmaster in a secondary buyout. West LB's Asset Securitisation and Principal Finance...

Burford quits market.(Burford Holdings )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Large property-based deals in December were by no means Germany's prerogative (see Deutsche Annington, page 71). In the same month, Burford Holdings became the latest in a line of UK property groups to turn its back on the public markets,...

Electra and Candover warm to merger.(Electra Partners Europe acted as lead investor)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2001... A merger between Newmond plc and Baxi Holdings plc completed at the end of November. Newmond, the subject of an unexited [pound]360 million buyout backed by Electra and Candover in 1996, is a [pound]300 million group operating in the heating,...

DB Capital Partners in holiday mood.(DB Capital is acquiring the UK arm of Center Parcs )
February 1, 2001... In late November, Scottish & Newcastle announced the sale of its Center Parcs holiday village operation to DB Capital Partners, Deutsche Bank's own-balance-sheet private equity operation, and French leisure group Pierre et Vacances in a...

De Boer to acquire with 3i support.(investment by venture capital firm to finance new strategy for growth)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Family-owned De Boer Structures, the world market leader in temporary structures and accommodation, late last year announced that 3i and the management were acquiring an interest in the company. De Boer, which operates out of Banbury and...

Mezzanine to fuel GlobeOp's growth.(GlobeOp Financial Services gets $10 million from fund)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2001... GlobeOp Financial Services, an independent provider of middle and back-office support services for hedge funds, in December received a $10 million investment from Mezzanine Management. Mezzanine Management invested from Mezzanine Management...

DKC snaps up Rayner Foods.(Dresdner Kleinwort Capital)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... The twelfth deal completed through Dresdner Kleinwort Capital's (DKC) MBI Club completed in December, when the private equity operation backed a [pound]40 million secondary MBI/MBO of Rayner Food Group. NIB Private Equity invested alongside...

Bridgepoint buys ALcontrol Labs.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2001... In December, Bridgepoint Capital announced a [pound]70 million acquisition of ALcontrol Laboratories from Kelda Group. ALcontrol, which operates in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden, provides analytical services to the environmental,...

Landmark funding for Digia.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... In one of the largest venture funding rounds ever seen in Finland, a group of venture capital and corporate investors injected almost [epsilon]35 million into wireless software specialist Digia. The round, Digias second, was led by Investor...

$50m for Central European MANs.(Etel Group plans state-of-the art fibre optic Metropolitan Area Networks)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2001... The Central European telecommunications service provider etel Group received $50 million of venture funding at the end of November. Dresdner Kleinwort Benson Private Equity (since renamed Dresdner Kleinwort Capital) led the round, investing...

Zeus to consolidate global position.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... UBS Warburg in December led an investor syndicate in a [pound]5 million third-round investment for web server software specialist Zeus Technologies. Appointed as financial adviser to Zeus last June, UBS Warburg brought in Cazenove Private...

Active year end for Amadeus.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Following the October closing of Amadeus II on [pound]235 million, almost twice its original target, Amadeus Capital Partners enjoyed an active end to the year. Late November saw a startup investment of [pound]1.75 million in Plastic Logic...

Second round for 4SC.(financing round)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... 4SC, a German biotech company that applies a broad range of technological expertise to speed up the discovery of novel therapeutic agents, closed a [epsilon]17.1 million second funding round in December. 3i led the round, which was...

AppGate secures new backing.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Swedish computer and network security specialist AppGate in December raised $10 million via a stock issue. New investors GE Equity and ABN AMRO subscribed to the issue alongside existing backer Bure Equity. Carlstedt Research & Technology...

IRIS strengthens its position.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Dublin-based geographic data and technology group IRIS in December raised [epsilon]2.5 million of second-round funding. Existing investors Trinity Venture Capital and Enterprise Ireland provided further backing in the round, investing alongside...

Merlin supports 'performance foods' venture.(Merlin Biosciences invests in Centre for Nutritional Medicine)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Life sciences specialist Merlin Biosciences has taken a step sideways into the consumer healthcare sector, investing [pound]0.4 million in Centre for Nutritional Medicine (CNM), a London-based nutritional services and performance foods venture....

Advent and Prelude back DNA Research Instruments.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... The global DNA extraction market, currently worth more than [pound]300 million, is growing by an estimated 20 per cent per annum. However, despite strongly increasing demand for DNA analyses in recent years, no technology for automating the...

DKC backs Croatian Internet leader.(Dresdner Kleinwort Capital investment in Iskon Internet)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... In its fourth investment, Dresdner Kleinwort Capital's Emerging Europe Fund paid $6 million for a 'substantial' stake in Iskon Internet, Croatia's leading Internet company. Iskon boasts some 30,000 dial-up access customers and 10 million page...

Zygon defies market trend.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... At the end of November, e-business software technology specialist Zygon raised a second funding round totalling more than $8 million. Investors in the latest round were 3i and Intel Capital, Zygon's initial backers, together with Bamboo...

AdProTech wins further support.(further venture funding)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... The advanced protein engineering company AdProTech in early December received [pound]13 million of new capital in a third venture round supported by its existing investors. 3i, investing [pound]7 million, led the latest funding round, in which...

Handwise aims for rapid growth.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... The Nordic region's focus on mobile Internet applications shows no signs of diminishing. Handwise, a Finnish company that designs and implements mobile wireless applications for Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), has won its first funding from...

ABN eats up Perkins.(ABN AMRO Capital; Perkins Foods PLC)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2001... ABN AMRO Capital has led a management buyout that will see Perkins Foods, a leading pan-European private label manufacturer of chilled and frozen convenience foods, return to the status of private company. Lowclose, via investment bank Lehman...

Socius secondary buyout.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... F&C Ventures, which shortly before Christmas agreed the terms of its own management buyout that is expected to complete in February this year, has invested equity in the management buyout of Socius Group. Socius Group is a Birmingham-based...

Fairview of PTP for 3i.(Fairview Holdings)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... As last year drew to a close so did the preparation on 3i's largest single investment of the year. This was the 180 pence per share offer for Fairview Holdings, the south east of England housebuilder, which valued the company at over [pound]300...

Schroder Ventures gets into DIY.(do-it-yourself (DIY))(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Schroder Ventures has backed the management buyout of Homebase, the do-it-yourself (DIY) business of J Sainsbury plc. J Sainsbury has retained a 17.8 per cent stake in Homebase with the remainder being held by Schroder Ventures funds (71.2 per...

1st Neuer Markt spin off.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Apax Partners has invested [epsilon]20 million in Tuxia Deutschland, which is a spin off company of the Neuer Markt-listed company Informatec. This is the first spin off from a Neuer Markt-listed company, although it is expected that if the...