10th Jul 2006 07:00
IP Group PLC10 July 2006 For Immediate Release 10 July 2006 IP Group plc ("IP Group" or the "Company") IP Group launches IP Venture Fund IP Group plc (LSE: IPO), the intellectual property commercialisation company, isdelighted to announce that it has established a new venture capital fund inpartnership with the European Investment Fund, one of the leading venturecapital investors in Europe. The IP Venture Fund (the "Fund") will seek to attract total commitments of up to£30 million and has had a first closing of £15.5 million including a commitmentof £1.4 million from IP Group. The Fund will be managed by Top Technology Ventures Limited, the venture capitalfund management subsidiary of IP Group, and will commit in the region of 25% ofthe amount of post-seed financings of IP Group portfolio companies alongsidecapital committed by external investors, subject to the terms of the Fund. The Fund will also have the ability to invest alongside IP Group inseed-financings as part of future IP Group university partnerships, subject tothe agreement of the relevant universities. Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive of IP Group, said: "The European Investment Fund isone of the leading venture capital investors in Europe and has a similar view toIP Group of the investment potential and importance of successful intellectualproperty commercialisation. We are delighted to have established IP Venture Fundwith support from the EIF and look forward to working together in the future." For further information about IP Group plc please contact: IP Group plc 020 7489 5200Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive OfficerMagnus Goodlad, Executive DirectorLiz Vaughan-Adams (Communications) KBC Peel Hunt Ltd 020 7418 8900Megan Macintyre Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000Mark Court, Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson Notes for Editors About IP Group IP Group Plc is an intellectual property (IP) commercialisation company thatspecialises in commercialising university technology. Founded in 2001, IP Grouplisted on AiM in October 2003 and moved to the Official List in June 2006. Ithas made two acquisitions to date - Techtran, a company set up to commercialiseuniversity intellectual property under a long term contract with the Universityof Leeds, in 2005 and Top Technology Ventures, an investment adviser to earlystage technology venture capital funds, in 2004. The group has formed long-term partnerships with seven universities - Universityof Oxford, King's College London, CNAP/University of York, University of Leeds,University of Bristol, University of Surrey and University of Southampton. As at 13 June 2006, 42 spin-out companies had been created among the group'suniversity partners. Of those, seven have listed on the AiM market of the LondonStock Exchange and there has been one trade sale. For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com About the European Investment Fund The European Investment Fund (EIF) is the EU specialized vehicle providingventure capital and guarantee instruments for SMEs. The EIF is a Europeaninstitution whose main objective is to support the creation, growth anddevelopment of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). It intervenes by meansof risk capital and guarantee instruments, using either its own funds or thoseavailable within the framework of mandates entrusted to it by the EuropeanInvestment Bank (EIB) or the European Union. The EIF has a tripartite shareholding, which includes the EIB, the EuropeanUnion represented by the European Commission, and a number of European banks andfinancial institutions, from the public or private sector. The EIF acts in acomplementary role to its majority shareholder, the EIB. www.eif.org ENDS This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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