European Venture Capital Journal articles from March 2002

European Venture Capital Journal archives from March 2002

Duke Street increases CDO. (News: Private Equity).
March 1, 2002... Duke Street Capital Debt Management has increased the size of its first collateralised debt obligation (CDO) fund, Duchess 1, to [euro]1 billion. The [euro]750 million raised for the fund last June made it Europe's largest CDO. The...

CapMan enters Swedish market. (News: Private Equity).
March 1, 2002... Finnish private equity firm, CapMan has bought Swedish VC Swedestart Management in a [euro]17 million deal. This transaction extends CapMan's reach in the Nordic region, where it now has offices in Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen, and brings...

Charterhouse France becomes Chequers Capital. (News: Private Equity).
March 1, 2002... CHARTERHOUSE FRANCE has been acquired by its management team and re-named Chequers Capital. The newly independent private equity firm will continue to focus on mid-market buyouts mainly in France and is about halfway through raising a new...

Standard Life launches Private Equity ISA. (News: Private Equity).
March 1, 2002... STANDARD LIFE is launching an Individual Savings Account (ISA) to be invested in its listed fund-of-funds vehicle, Standard Life European Private Equity Trust, which was launched last year. ISAs are a tax-free savings vehicle available in the...

PRICOA closes Paris office. (News: Private Equity).
March 1, 2002... PRICOA Capital, the mezzanine investment arm of the Prudential Corporation of America, has closed its Paris office and transferred that office's only investment professional, director Gregory Barbes, to London. Also Mark Brunault, one of three...

Rowe & Maw expands through merger. (News: Private Equity).
March 1, 2002... UK law firm, ROWE & MAW has merged with US-based Mayer Brown & Platt. The merger will add 15 private equity partners in New York and three in London to Rowe & Maw's existing PE team of five partners, based in London. Paul Maher, head of Rowe &...

Credit Lyonnais restructures PE. (News: Private Equity).
March 1, 2002... French bank CREDIT LYONNAIS has merged its private equity businesses into a single unit, Credit Lyonnais Private Equity. The new division will combine CLAM Private Equity, a manager of third party funds, and Credit Lyonnais' in-house private...

Gresham predicts M&A upturn. (News: Private Equity).
March 1, 2002... Managers of the UK's middle market companies are more likely be involved in M&A transactions this year than in 2001, according to the Gresham Monitor, a survey commissioned by private equity house, the Gresham Trust. The survey of 100...

Hutton Collins seeks [euro]500m. (News: Private Equity).
March 1, 2002... Graham Hutton and Michael Collins have got together to raise a [euro]500 million mezzanine fund. Hutton and Collins met at Morgan Grenfell merchant bank in the late 1980s where eventually Hutton went on to lead Morgan Grenfell Private Equity...

20-partner limit lifted for PE firms. (News: Private Equity).
March 1, 2002... A change in UK legislation means the majority of private equity firms structured as limited partnerships will become exempt from the 20-partner limit on March 22, 2002. The change will apply to limited partnership collective investment schemes...

Binnie's new venture targets Spain. (News: Venture Capital).
March 1, 2002... Stewart Binnie, former head of Schroder Finance Partners, is utilising his financial services investing experience in a new independent fund. ForTrust Fund I, LP will target enabling technologies in the financial services, healthcare and energy...

BVK launches working party of corporate VCs. (News: Venture Capital).
March 1, 2002... BVK, the German venture capital association, has launched a working party of early stage corporate venture capital funds. The group will be a platform for corporate funds to share their experiences, exchange information and further their common...

Irish government pumps [euro]95m into VC. (News: Venture Capital).
March 1, 2002... The Irish government, through its trade and technology organisation Enterprise Ireland, has announced it will provide [euro]95 million for venture capital investments. The money will establish 12 new, privately managed funds, the first of which...

Scottish companies get [pounds sterling]20m boost. (News: Venture Capital).
March 1, 2002... A [pounds sterling]20 million venture capital fund has been launched by the Scottish Executive to encourage investment in Scottish start-ups. The Scottish Executive's strategy of Regional Selective Assistance has been redesigned to focus on the...

German VC: Consolidation and losses characterise 2001. (News: Venture Capital).
March 1, 2002... German Venture Capital Association, the BVK, has released the provisional figures for investments by its members last year. Dr Holger Frommann, managing director of the BVK, described 2001 as a year of consolidation among the private equity...

GIMV forms e-finance partnership. (News: Venture Capital).
March 1, 2002... As part of its expansion into e-finance investments, Belgian investor GIMV has formed a partnership with Capco, a company providing consultancy services and technology solutions to the financial services industry. The partnership will give...

PwC launches Menlo Park Europe. (News: Venture Capital).
March 1, 2002... Accountancy firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) has launched Menlo Park Europe, demonstrating that it still has faith in the technology sector. The London-based centre is dedicated to providing PwC's customers with European analysis of global...

Regional VC Funds come into action. (News: Venture Capital).
March 1, 2002... The first of nine regional venture capital funds (RVCFs) backed by the UK government was unveiled this month. It's part of a programme of funds originally announced in 2000 to help finance small businesses in England. The East Midlands...

Q4 shows signs of recovery for Israeli high tech. (News: Venture Capital).
March 1, 2002... Although Israeli high tech companies raised $1.1 billion less in 2001 than in the previous year, figures for the final quarter of the year showed an increase in capital raised. The year end survey conducted by the Israel Venture Capital...

Cells fuel growth. (News: Venture Capital).
March 1, 2002... Corporate venture capital vehicle, Conduit Ventures has been set up by Shell Hydrogen, Mitsubishi Corporation and Johnson Matthey as Europe's first fund focusing on the high growth area of fuel cells and related hydrogen technologies. Conduit...

EIF increases VC commitments. (News: Venture Capital).
March 1, 2002... Last year, commitments by the European Investment Fund (EIF) to venture capital rose to over [euro]800 million, invested in 57 funds. The EIF began its involvement in venture capital in 1997, and in 2000 invested [euro]93 million. In 2001 the...

GorillaPark acquires ExpertEyes. (News: Venture Capital).
March 1, 2002... As part of a consolidation strategy, Dutch incubator GorillaPark has acquired ExpertEyes, a Belgain group specialised in expanding US technology companies in Europe. After raising a $21 million third round of financing in September 2001 Jerome...

Q4 figures show hope for US. (News: Venture Capital).(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... A survey of venture capital investments made last year in the US showed a slight increase in the number of deals and amount invested in the last quarter of the 2001. According to the PricewaterhouseCoopers/Venture Economics/National Venture...

Baring Vostok closes at $205 million. (News: Funds).
March 1, 2002... BARING VOSTOK Private Equity Fund (Baring Vostok), a subsidiary of Baring Private Equity Partners, has exceeded its original target amount of between $150 million and $200 million and has announced a final close at $205 million. The fund...

TTP Ventures to raise second fund. (News: Funds).
March 1, 2002... TTP Ventures, the venture capital arm of 'FTP Group (The Technology Partnership), has almost fully invested its first fund and is set raise a second with a target of between [pounds sterling]40 million and [pounds sterling]80 million. The fund...

Sponsor Capital exceeds target. (News: Funds).
March 1, 2002... Finnish buyout specialist, Sponsor Capital has achieved a first and final closing of its second buyout fund at [euro]107 million, exceeding its [euro]100 million target. The fund will focus on generalist investments of between [euro]5 million...

Oxford Technology seeks [pounds sterling]10m. (News: Funds).
March 1, 2002... Oxford Technology 3 (OT3) Venture Capital Trust is braving tough fund raising conditions in the VCT market and seeking to raise up to [pounds sterling]10 million for investment primarily in unquoted start-up technology companies. The fund will...

Danske well on way to reaching target. (News: Funds).
March 1, 2002... Danske Private Equity, a subsidiary of Danske Bank, has reached a first close of [euro]349 million for its second fund-of-funds. The new vehicle was launched at the end of last year, just a year after the final close of its first offering....

First close for CapMan Equity VII. (News: Funds).
March 1, 2002... CapMan has reached the first close of its seventh private equity fund, CapMan Equity VII at 6166 million. CapMan anticipates a final close by the end of June. A final target for the fund has not been disclosed. "The new fund will...

First close for Henderson Private Capital. (News: Funds).
March 1, 2002... Henderson Private Capital, the private equity arm of Henderson Global Investors, has announced the first close of its Henderson Global Fund-of-Funds I at $200million. The fund aims to close by year-end, market conditions permitting, and has a...

MSIF boosts job creation. (News: Funds).
March 1, 2002... Merseyside Special Investment Fund has launched its second fund with [pounds sterling]80 million to invest in small-and medium-sized businesses in the Merseyside region. The new fund is over twice the size of its predecessor, which was launched...

IMH reaches first close. (News: Funds).
March 1, 2002... German venture capital firm, IMH Industrie Management Holding has achieved a first close on its third fund at [euro]64 million and is well on its way to reaching its target of [euro]150 million. IMH Venture Capital Berlin has attracted five...

El celebrates Eldorado IPO. (News: Exits).
March 1, 2002... Polish food retailer, Eldorado has made its debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The company launched 6,375,600 shares on the parallel market at PLN15.45 per share, which was three per cent above its IPO price. Around PLN20 million was raised in...

Another dot.com down. (News: Exits).
March 1, 2002... Queercompany.com, an Internet portal aimed at the lesbian and gay community, has ceased trading and is up for sale. Original investors in the website, Smedvig Capital were reluctant to commit further capital to the venture after it burnt...

Investia divests holding in FundsHub. (News: Exits).
March 1, 2002... JP Morgan has acquired e-commerce technology specialist Investia's majority holding in FundsHub for an undisclosed sum. FundsHub's management and employees will also take an increased stake in the business. The FundsHub management team and JP...

Bridgepoint sells Eurocom Depora. (News: Exits).
March 1, 2002... Bridgepoint Capital continues its recent spate of exits with the sale of Eurocom Depora to Finland Post for an undisclosed amount. This marks Bridgepoint's second sale to Finland Post who acquired another Bridgepoint company, Swedish Capella...

Moving Skills ceases activity. (News: Exits).
March 1, 2002... Finnish investment company Menire has written down the entire book value of its portfolio company, Moving Skills and placed the company into liquidation. Menire holds a 23 per cent stake in the company and the write-down amounts to [euro]0.65...

IPO success for IDH. (News: Exits).
March 1, 2002... Phoenix portfolio company Integrated Dental Holdings has floated on the London Stock Exchange. The UK chain of dental practices has raised [pounds sterling]20 million from institutional investors, of which [pounds sterling]5 million was for...

A profitable exit from Digital Illusions. (News: Exits).
March 1, 2002... 2M Invest has generated a profit of DKK10 million on the sale of its shares in Swedish portfolio company, Digital Illusions. The firm acquired its eight per cent shareholding in the game development company less than a year ago in spring 2001...

Pipeline Construction goes to Morgan Sindall. (News: Exits).
March 1, 2002... Morgan Sindall has completed the acquisition of Pipeline Constructors Group, a provider of utilities services. The transaction is for a total of [pounds sterling]16.45 million, satisfied by a mixture of [pounds sterling]9.29 million of cash and...

TFG portfolio suffers. (News: Exits).
March 1, 2002... German venture capital investor, TFG Venture Capital has written off two of its portfolio companies -- Gastrofix, a developer of PC-based hotel and restaurant software and Inline, an integrated professional training company have both filed for...

First exit from Lucent portfolio. (News: Exits).
March 1, 2002... Coller Capital has witnessed the first realisation from the portfolio of technology investments it acquired from Lucent Technologies earlier this year. US-based Celiant, a specialist in power amplifiers and radio frequency subsystems for 2G and...

Flex clauses hit mezzanine. (News: Buyouts).
March 1, 2002... Flex clauses, which have been in use by UK private equity investors since the early 1990s and incorporated into underwritten senior debt packages increasingly over the past four years, have started to make an appearance in mezzanine funding...

EU Merger Regulation under review. (News: Buyouts).
March 1, 2002... The European Commission has invited responses, by the end of March this year, to its proposal to grant exemptions to certain private equity investments. The idea is that private equity investments, from the point of view of European Commission...

NewMedia SPARK appts MP. (People Moves).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... NewMedia SPARK plc (SPARK) has appointed John Maples, MP as a non-executive director. Maples is the MP for Stratford-on-Avon in the UK and is a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and Council Member of the Royal Institute of...

Royal Bank Dev Capital appts. (People Moves).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... NatWest Development Capital, which last month quietly changed its name to Royal Bank Development Capital, has moved Daniel Smith into its Birmingham, UK office. Smith has worked for Royal Bank of Scotland since 1993, most recently as...

Royal Bank PE appts. (People Moves).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Royal Bank Private Equity has appointed James Bryce as investment manager, bringing the headcount of professionals at Royal Bank Private Equity to 27, 18 of whom were recruited during 2001. Bryce joined Royal Bank Private Equity from...

Crosby to Sports Capital Partners. (People Moves).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Brian Crosby joins Sports Capital Partners, the New York-based private investment firm established in 1998 to invest globally in sports, leisure and lifestyle-related businesses, as a senior associate. Crosby was most recently a founder and...

Gillespie to head Andersen Corp Fin. (People Moves).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Marc Gillespie has been promoted to UK head of Andersen Corporate Finance. The UK accounts for Andersen's second largest corporate finance market. Gillespie takes over from Chris Rowlands, the head of Andersen corporate finance across western...

Standard Bank expands in UK. (People Moves).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Standard Bank London has recruited Brian Livingston and Peter Franklin to join the UK M&A team. The bank currently advises South African corporates regarding their offshore investments and UK corporates in respect of their South African...

Apax appts Grabiner. (People Moves).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Apax Partners has appointed Mike Grabiner as director. Grabiner was previously chief executive of Energis plc and prior to this a director of BT Europe and a member of the board of BT Telecommunicaciones SA in Spain, VIAG InterKom in Germany,...

Digital Networks appts advisers. (People Moves).
March 1, 2002... Digital Networks, which launched in 2000 and held the first close of its fund mid year last year, has appointed Dr John Baits and John Ziemniak as senior technology advisors. They will provide active operational and technical support to the...

Meyer opens Probitas in NY. (People Moves).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Dale Meyer has resigned his post as managing director and group head of JP Morgan's private fund group to join Probitas Partners, the independent placement agent and private equity advisory firm that was launched towards the end of last year....

Metropolitan VP appts. (People Moves).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Technology investor Metropolitan Venture Partners has appointed Ameesh Vakharia and Brenda Van Camp as associates. Vakharia joins the firm's New York office from Goldman Sachs, where he was a financial analyst in the global investment...

Bayliss moves to Norton Rose. (People Moves).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Norton Rose has hired David Bayliss as a partner in its European private equity team, which has 15 partners across Europe. Bayliss will lead the firm's private equity initiative from the firm's London office. Bayliss (43) was previously head of...

Investing a la Milanese. (Cover Story: Italy).
March 1, 2002... While early stage investments are nothing to shout about in the Italian market, a close knit private equity community concentrated in the financial capital of Milan knows just what it takes to complete the perfect Italian deal, Angela Sormani...

University Challenge funds: A model for Europe? (Cover Story: University Challenge Funds).
March 1, 2002... In October, the UK government announced the recipients of the second round of University Challenge funding. The competition provides capital to enable universities to establish venture capital seed funds aimed at transforming research by...

Almeida Capital-AltAssets. (Company Profile: Almeida Capital-AltAssets).
March 1, 2002... Over a year down the road since its launch and into its second round of funding, Almeida Capital-AltAssets continues to increase its penetration of the European institutional investor market in private equity. Co-founders Richard Sachar and...

Highland views peak of Performix. (Deal of the Month: Performix).
March 1, 2002... Reports of the death of the technology sector are exaggerated as a tier one US private equity player provides [pounds sterling]10.7 million to fund the aggressive expansion plans of an Irish software company. For a company which was forged...

Seeking buyers February. (Seeking buyers).
March 1, 2002... Seeking buyers Seeking buyers February Seeking buyers includes listings of all European companies that have announced plans since January 26, 2001 until February 21, 2002 to sell divisions, stakes of their entire company. It also...

Announced February deals. (Announced deals).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Announced deals Announced February deals Announced deals includes listings of private equity and venture capital transactions involving European targets that were announced from January 25, 2002 to February 25, 2002. The listings...

The chain gang. (Overview: European high yield).
March 1, 2002... After taking a beating, the European high yield market is showing signs of life once more. So too are its advocates who argue that without a change in subordination structure its revival will be short-lived. The European high yield market...

Recent legal changes affecting Europe's buyout market. (Overview).
March 1, 2002... Legal and regulatory issues at times dominate the agenda in terms of development of a thriving continental European buyout market. The debates are ongoing in part because the lobbying might of the European and that of the more active individual...

European leveraged buyouts worth [euro]10 million or above announced between 1/1/2001 to 31/1/2001.
March 1, 2002... European leveraged buyouts worth [euro]10 million or above announced between 1/1/2001 to 31/1/2001 Date Status Target name Target ultimate parent 2/1/01 C ...

Top 25 law firms acting for the acquiror on European MBOs announced in 2001.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Top 25 law firms acting for the acquiror on European MBOs announced in 2001 Rank value Rank value No of Rank Legal advisers ([euro]m) ($m) deals 1 ...

Opportunities in the Irish market: Strong pro-business policies have led to increased levels of activity in Ireland, writes Eithne FitzGerald of A & L Goodbody, Dublin. (Sponsored Article).
March 1, 2002... Ireland's strong pro business policies have long drawn interest from overseas business, helping to transform the island into an attractive location for foreign investors. The country has benefited from the global boom in high tech and...

Leveraging your knowledge of UK buyout transactions. (Sponsored Article).
March 1, 2002... Resisting the temptation to assume that everything is the same the world over. Marc R Paul, (Washington, DC) and Charles AA Whitefoord (London), partners of Baker & McKenzie's global venture capital group, discuss Without doing your...

Different regimes for take privates: Jonathan Wood, senior assistant in Lovells' corporate practice, makes some comparisons. (Sponsored Article).
March 1, 2002... The absence of liquidity in sectors which have fallen out of favour with investors has, in the last few years, encouraged many directors of medium and smaller-sized listed companies to consider de-listing and returning into private ownership....

Taxation in the Benelux countries: Marco de Lignie of Loyens & Loeff, Amsterdam and Frederic Feyten of Loyens & Loeff, Luxembourg examine the taxation of investors and managers. (Sponsored Article).
March 1, 2002... The tax position of fund managers, in particular the taxation of the carried interest, is a hot item at any time and in any place. In the countries surrounding the Benelux, such as Germany and France, fund managers are looking desperately...

The Finnish venture capital market: Tarja Wist and Toni Siimes of Waselius & Wist outline the legal procedures that underpin a booming sector. (Sponsored Article).(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... Finland was long considered a venture capital backwater. Until the mid1990s the growth and development of the Finnish venture capital market was slow. Most early stage investments came from government sources. By 1988, 18 Finnish venture...