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Mills & Reeve advises on buy-out at VC |
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Written by Business Weekly
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Tuesday, 27 June 2006 |
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An East of England law firm has advised on the creation of a new player in the European venture capital community.
Law firm Mills & Reeve has advised the management team, Ajay Chowdhury, Hitesh Mehta and Chris Smart, and the manager Acacia Capital Partners, on the buy-out of International Data Group Inc’s interest in the limited partnership known as IDG Ventures Europe. The buy-out was completed by a syndicate of investors led by Partners Group and Access Capital Partners. The fund has been restructured and renamed Acacia I LP and is managed by Acacia Capital Partners owned by the three managers. Acacia I LP will continue to make new investments in European technology companies as well as managing its existing portfolio. In addition Acacia will be looking to acquire existing portfolios across the venture lifecycle in the technology sector. The IDG Ventures portfolio recently had a successful exit selling Lionhead, a leading games developer, to Microsoft and other companies in the portfolio include Solarflare Communications, which recently merged with Cambridge company, Level 5 Networks. The managers said: “The European venture capital market is entering a strong growth phase and we believe that the opportunities this will bring, combined with our deep operational experience and our disciplined investment approach will create attractive returns for our investors.” The Mills & Reeve team advising on this transaction was led by corporate finance partner Claire Clarke and also included corporate tax partner Christopher Townsend. Clarke said: “Having advised originally on setting up the fund we are pleased to have had the chance to add value to this transaction which fits well with our growing funds practice.” |
