Page 29 - Annual Report 2010

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Equity

NEOTEC

The Spain-based NEOTEC fund-of-funds was launched in February 2006 with the sponsorship of EIF and the Cen-tre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI: Centro para el Desarrollo Technológico Industrial), now part of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

This high- tech and innovation vehicle, which includes a fund-of-fund and a co-investment facility, was subscribed to by CDTI, EIF and several other private investors, mainly Spanish blue chip companies. It closed at EUR 183m in June 2006, EUR 50m of which was committed by the EIF.

In 2010, two new transactions were signed for a total of approximately EUR 30m, with EUR 6m funded by EIF, EIB and European Commission resources. At the end of 2010, NEOTEC approved deals for a total amount of EUR 117m.

DAHLIA

Dahlia is a pan-European fund-of-funds, jointly sponsored by EIF and Natixis Private Equity (NPE), to which EIF com-mitted EUR 75m and Natixis EUR 225m. A feature of the initiative is that it combines primary and secondary invest-ments, building upon the respective strengths of EIF and Natixis in these particular market segments.

Over 60% of Dahlia funding has now been committed, with a target of full investment by the end of 2011.

As a result of continued scrutiny and monitoring of the market, EIF has, through iVCi, extended its visibility within the Turkish financial private equity and venture capital markets, and gained access to all segments of the indus-try. iVCi now has a full pipeline of new fund proposals ranging from early stage venture capital investments to mid-size company buy outs in a wide variety of sectors.

Portugal Venture Capital initiative (PVCi)

At the end of 2007, EIF launched, alongside private finan-cial institutions, public bodies and selected foundations, a EUR 111m private equity / venture capital fund-of-funds - the Portugal Venture Capital Initiative (PVCi). EIF is re-sponsible for the management of PVCi, which invests in Portuguese and international funds with a primary focus on Portugal.

In 2010, the first two transactions were signed for a total amount of EUR 30m. Another investment was also ap-proved by the Investment Committee in December 2010.

United Kingdom Future Technology Fund (UK FTF)

The UK FTF L.P. was launched by the UK Prime Minis-ter as part of the Government’s strategy for venture capital funds investing in technology companies with high growth potential across important sectors such as life sciences, digital and advanced manufacturing. In such context, in September 2009 EIF responded to an open call for tender, and was then selected in December 2009 and subsequently appointed - in February 2010 - to serve as investment adviser to UK FTF L.P.

UK FTF L.P. is GBP 200m in size made up of equal com-mitments by the UK government and EIF (RCM). Although having been in the ramp-up phase and having started the investment activity in an extremely difficult fundraising en-vironment for venture capital funds, UKFTF L.P. has to date signed three investments in high potential funds: DFJ Esprit Capital III, Acton GmbH & Co. Heureka KG and Advent Ventures Life Sciences Fund. As such, the Fund played an important role in supporting venture capital teams in their fundraising efforts and bringing the funds to closings in a timely manner and thus into investment mode. The pipeline for 2011 continues to be strong with several investments planned over the year.