European Venture Capital Journal articles from May 2009

European Venture Capital Journal archives from May 2009

Championing European venture capital: overshadowed by its American counterpart and the success of buyouts, European venture needs to make its case to the worlds' investors.(EDITOR'S NOTE)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This month in EVCJ we are launching a campaign championing venture capital. For too long the asset class has been ignored or dismissed by investors as a waste of time and money, with claims that the industry is too...

Irish banks Look for PE rescue.(DUBLIN)
May 1, 2009... The Mallabraca Consortium, which includes private equity giants JC Flowers and the Carlyle Group, is eyeing up Ireland's troubled banks with a view to bail out the flailing system. The consortium is looking to make a five to seven-year...

3i sells off venture companies.(LONDON)
May 1, 2009... In a bid to refocus its attention on the buyouts and mid-market, UK private equity house 3i has sold ten of its venture investments to secondaries specialist Cipio Partners for an undisclosed sum. The latest transaction, which involves...

Buyout firms bid with Skype founders.(STOCKHOLM)
May 1, 2009... Private equity powerhouses KKR, Warburg Pincus, Providence and Elevation Partners are backing the management of Skype as it attempts to buy back the business from eBay. Swedish born Niklas Zennstrom and Jannus Friis sold the company that...

GM looks to offload Opel.(FRANKFURT)
May 1, 2009... Well known private equity firms are believed to be among the six interested groups in the buyout of German car giant Opel from troubled car manufacturer General Motors. General Motors European chief Carl-Peter Forster revealed that unnamed...

Fiat/Chrysler deal on shaky ground.(MILAN)
May 1, 2009... As pressure mounts against the Fiat/Chrysler deal, CEO of Fiat Sergio Marchionne has taken a bold step and flown to the US in order to ensure the deal is secured. Chrysler is currently 80.1% owned by US private equity firm Cerberus Capital...

Morgan Stanley raises US$1.14bn fund.(NEW YORK)
May 1, 2009... Morgan Stanley Investment Partners has raised US$1.14bn in commitments for its latest private equity fund-of-funds, Morgan Stanley Private Markets Fund W, a 15% increase on its previous offering. Fund W focuses on buyouts in North America...

Why to invest in European venture capital: despite a track record of good returns, top performing funds and a vibrant entrepreneurial culture, European venture capital is still over-looked by the world's LPs. Tom Allchorne looks at why this is a mistake.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A much maligned asset class, European venture capital is suffering from investor prejudice, a bias which sees money flow into buyout funds of into the coffers of Asian firms, and over the heads of the homegrown VCs....

Bebo.(LANDMARK EXITS)
May 1, 2009... A UK social networking website, Bebo was sold to US media giant AOL by Balderton for US$850m, generating proceeds of US$140m for the firm and a 9x return.

Cramer.(LANDMARK EXITS)
May 1, 2009... Acquired by Amdocs for 312m [euro], this UK telecoms software provider received a total of around 28m [euro] of venture capital backing, with Kennet providing seed funding, and making a 14x return.

CSR.(LANDMARK EXITS)
May 1, 2009... This U K Bluetooth developer raised over 50m [euro] in funding from 3i and Amadeus Capital Partner among others. The company floated in London in 2004 and is now worth over 315m [pounds sterling].

Domantis.(LANDMARK EXITS)
May 1, 2009... MVM and 3i were just two of the backers of biotech company Domantis, which raised a total of 64m [euro] of venture money. It was acquired by GlaxoSmithKilne for 351 m [euro].

GlycArt.(LANDMARK EXITS)
May 1, 2009... Cancer treatment specialist, GlycArt had a multitude of investors including Gilde, Quester and Novartis, GlycArt earned a 6.9x, a 5x and a 7.5x return respectively for its VCs when it was acquired by Roche.

Last.fm.(LANDMARK EXITS)
May 1, 2009... A UK social music site, it was acquired by US media behemoth CBS for 140m [pounds sterling], the largest-ever UK Web 2.0 acquisition. It was founded in 2003 with a US$2m equity injection from Index in 2006. The firm pocketed over US$50m on...

MessageLabs.(LANDMARK EXITS)
May 1, 2009... RIT Capital Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners, Catalyst Investors and Prospect Investment Management put in 30m [pounds sterling] into UK internet messaging and web security specialist MessageLabs before it was sold to Symantec for US$695m.

MySQL.(LANDMARK EXITS)
May 1, 2009... The second largest independent open source software company in the world, MySQL backers included Balderton Capital and Index among others. It raised a total of 27m [euro] and was sold to Sun Microsystems for US$1bn.

Q-Cells.(LANDMARK EXITS)
May 1, 2009... Apax made 280m [euro] from the sale of this German solar-power company when it sold its remaining stake (barring 0.5%)in 2006, a 27x return. Q-Cells floated in Frankfurt in 2004, and now has a market capitalization of 1.34bn [euro].

Skype.(LANDMARK EXITS)
May 1, 2009... Internet company Skype attracted backing from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Bessemer Venture Partners, Index Ventures and Mangrove Capital Partners. In total it raised approximately 19.6m [euro], and was sold to eBay in a deal worth over 3bn [euro]....

To sue or not to sue: as the risk of investors failing to meet their capital calls increases, Amanda Williams Palmer in London and Michael Baron in New York report on how to deal with defaulting LPs.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
May 1, 2009... Financial services specialist Capital Advisors, which has raised US$500m from investors, filed a lawsuit against two of its LPs for not meeting capital calls. According to a complaint filed with the Delaware Chancery Court, CapGen Capital...

UK Government urged to back venture capital: as funding for early-stage companies dries up, VCs and entrepreneurs are united in their cries for help.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
May 1, 2009... A 'perfect storm' of rising opportunities for VC-backed UK tech companies, flush with innovative ideas and managed by highly skilled entrepreneurs, together with an almost complete absence of funding, threatens to engulf the sector in 2009,...

Cash for trash: governments around the globe are gearing up to pump more monies into clean technology, and waste management is leading the way. Aimee Donnellan on why VCs are putting their money into rubbish.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
May 1, 2009... It may not be the most glamorous of investment areas, but the established revenues in the waste sector have already soared to US$60bn. With rising living standards leading to an increase in the volume of waste being produced, cleantech venture...

Buyer drought strikes secondaries: secondaries players have been rubbing their hands at the prospect of a deluge of deals, yet despite the occasional portfolio sale, actual deal flow has been more of a trickle.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
May 1, 2009... As the financial crisis has hit many limited partners hard, there has been a huge amount of speculation about the wealth of opportunities in the secondaries market. It's certainly true that many investors, starved of distributions and...

Women perform better in public and private: research has shown the benefits female executives can have on the fortunes of listed companies, but venture capital has so far proved reluctant to back women CEOs.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] How can family gossip be more interesting than a four-four-two formation? It isn't news that men and women think about things differently but what has made headlines recently is that companies with more female...

Frog launch: rebranded Foursome hopes to spawn some investments.(GROWTH EQUITY)
May 1, 2009... Foursome Investments, the London-based venture capital house backed by the Engelhorn family, has relaunched as Frog Capital. The decision follows the appointment of Mike Reid as managing partner from 3i's growth equity team. The firm has...

Goldman raises US$5.5bn.(SECONDARIES)
May 1, 2009... The asset management arm of US banking behemoth Goldman Sachs has raised US$5.5bn for its fifth secondaries fund. The portfolio has already been written down between 7% and 12%, because of "severe decline in comparable multiples, the...

UK VC targets 7.5m [pounds sterling].(REGIONAL FUND)
May 1, 2009... Aquarius Equity Partners, a UK venture capital firm based in Manchester, has launched its third fund. The fund raising is aimed solely at private investors and is looking to raise 7.5m [pounds sterling]. The Aquarius Origin Fund will make...

Hermes direct to Bridgepoint.(PENSION)
May 1, 2009... Hermes Fund Managers has handed over control of its private equity direct investments to mid-market firm Bridgepoint Capital to concentrate on fund-of-funds activities. Bridgepoint is now manager of Hermes Private Equity Partners II and...

European IPOs hit rock bottom: no improvement expected until 2010 with just 9m [euro] raised this year.(EXITS)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The European IPO market hit its lowest level in history during the first quarter of 2009, according to the latest survey flora UK consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers. Volumes and values were down, with just 18...

HitecVision sells Noble Denton.(SHIPPING)
May 1, 2009... Noble Denton Group, an offshore and shipping engineering company, has been acquired by German peer Germanischer Lloyd (GL) for an undisclosed sum from Norwegian private equity firm HitecVision. HitecVision invested in Noble Denton in 2006...

Colony sells casino stake.(LEISURE)
May 1, 2009... Private equity real estate player Colony Capital has sold its 15% interest in French casino company Groupe Lucien Barriere to Accor, the French hotels group. Already a shareholder, this takes Accor's stake to 49%. Colony sold its slice for...

Dynamic capital: picking the wheat from the chaff is the order of the day at fund-of-funds manager Capital Dynamics.(PROFILE)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Capital Dynamics, the Switzerland-based fund-of-funds group, started the year the best a fund-of-funds can--by winning a mandate. particular mandate came from Thailand's state pension fund, which has no exposure to...

Feeling the heat: the defensive qualities of food and drink investments have been one of the attractions for private equity houses, but pressure from major retailers and volatile raw material prices mean it can be a tough sector for investors.(FEATURE: FOOD & DRINK)(Company overview)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The traditional resilience of the food and drink sector against economic downturns has long made it an attractive destination for private equity cash, even in companies that are struggling. Witness the recent rights...

Brand development: private equity houses are seeking to develop brands in order to benefit from changing trends, but they face challenges as consumers move to 'value' products.(FEATURE: FOOD & DRINK)
May 1, 2009... "It can be attractive to acquire a brand that has been taken to a certain stage by an entrepreneur and has some visibility in the market, but which needs extra help and investment," says Phil Jackson of Grant Thornton. This is certainly...

Carrying the torch: Israeli VCs are preparing to exploit great opportunities both at home and abroad, as well as coming up with novel solutions to beat the recession.(FEATURE: ISRAEL)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] First the good news. Israel's high tech companies, the main show in town for both local and international VCs, raised US$2.08bn from Israeli and foreign VC investors in 2008, the most for eight years, 18% more than...

Biotech industry given lifeline: the Israeli government is committed to boosting the country's life sciences output and has announced a raft of funding schemes.(FEATURE: ISRAEL)
May 1, 2009... Israel's life sciences sector has been boosted with the announcement that government is pumping NIS250m (US$60m) to set up a national biotechnology fund. It is hoped that matched private sector funds I will raise the total to at least NIS500m...

Seeing red in Brussels: as the European Commission looks to pan-Continental regulation for private equity, Elizabeth Ward, counsel at Linklaters and part of a working group assisting the Brussels Task Force, urges the EU to consider the detrimental impact such a move could have.(LEGAL AND REGULATORY)
May 1, 2009... The debate over whether the European Union should or shouldn't enforce an industry code has rapidly been swept aside by the global financial maelstrom. Instead, private equity now accepts that it will be regulated at a European level and the...

Cleantech crash: sector sees just US$1 bn invested in opening quarter.(DATA ROOM)
May 1, 2009... Cleantechnology investments plunged by 41% in the first quarter of 2009, across North America, Europe, China and India, according to the latest research from The Cleantech Group. Having peaked at US$2.6bn in Q3 2008, the initial quarter of...

Investors close door on real estate: fund raising at '04 levels.(DATA ROOM)
May 1, 2009... Private equity real estate funds are feeling the pinch of the economic downturn with research showing 22 funds raising US$13bn globally in the first quarter of the year, the lowest amount since 04 2004, when 45 funds raised US$10bn. A...

CVC recruits US partner.(PEOPLE)
May 1, 2009... UK LBO powerhouse CVC Capital Partners has appointed a new partner and US head of the financial institutions group. Kamil Salame joins CVC from DLJ Merchant Banking Partners where he was a partner and member of the management committee and...

Palamon hires banker.(PEOPLE)
May 1, 2009... London-based mid-market private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners has appointed its second vice-president in just three weeks. Pascal Jean-Noel Noth joined Palamon's 16-strong team from the London-based investment banking division of...

Foresight promotes partner.(PEOPLE)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] UK small-cap investor Foresight Group has promoted Russell Healey to partner. Healey joined the London-based asset management firm in 2007 as a senior portfolio manager. As part of his new role, he will manage...

Legal counsel for Investindustrial.(PEOPLE)
May 1, 2009... Commencing its campaign to expand its team in the coming months, Southern European investment firm Investindustrial has appointed Marco Pierettori as its internal legal counsel. He will be based in the company's Swiss office as part of the...

Vietnamese fund manager recruits MD.(PEOPLE)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Vietnam-based fund manager VinaCapital has appointed a new fund portfolio managing director. Stacy Kincaid will oversee the structuring and capital raising efforts including planned limited partnerships, real...

Seeking buyers.
May 1, 2009... Seeking buyers includes listings of all European companies that have announced plans since March 19, 2009 to April 15, 2009 to sell divisions, stakes or their entire company. It also includes purported sales efforts that have appeared in...

The future of private equity: private equity has entered a new era. Charlotte Thorne, founding partner at Capital Generation Partners, predicts extensive restructuring of the industry over the next two years.(COMMENT)
May 1, 2009... It would be an understatement to say the financial world has changed forever. As the global economy came to a halt in 2008, banks and hedge funds were the first to experience significant turmoil and restructuring. One by one all but a few of...