News | Private Equity

SJ Berwin Advises Favonius on New Venture Fund and First Two Investments

Monday 19th August 2002

SJ Berwin has advised Favonius Ventures - a venture capital house with offices in Amsterdam and London - on the establishment of the Favonius Ventures Fund. In addition, SJ Berwin advised the fund on its first European investment of ®­5.1 million in Cambista Technologies Limited and its first US investment of US$5 million in CreditTrade, Inc.

Favonius Ventures Fund is a new fund aimed at venture capital investments in European technology companies with a specific emphasis on young, rapidly growing enterprise software and communications. The Fund had a first closing at US$77 million.

Cambista is a financial software and services provider dedicated to serving the Northern European and Middle Eastern markets. The company is focused on enabling banks to bring products and services to their corporate customers utilising the internet and other electronic channels. It was formed to acquire the majority of Brokat AG's interests outside Germany and Central Europe, including business infrastructures and intellectual property rights to a range of banking software applications. The investment into Cambista completed in March 2002.

CreditTrade is a leading transactional and data services provider to the global credit markets. The company specialises in credit default swaps, secondary loans and structured products, has pioneered the introduction of electronic trading platforms in the credit markets and is at the forefront of hybrid voice and electronic broking system developments. The US$5 million investment - which completed in August 2002 - is part of a further funding round for the company of US$8.4 million.

Commenting on these deals, private equity partner Joanna Hamilton said "SJ Berwin is delighted to work with Favonius Ventures. It is particularly pleasing to advise on a major new fund and to then have the opportunity to develop the relationship as the fund makes its first investments in the technology sector".

Both investments were co-ordinated and managed on behalf of Favonius Ventures by Stephen Duckett, Managing Director, who commented:

"We looked to the team at SJ Berwin for advice on the new fund and to help us make our first investments in the technology sector. Both deals ran particularly smoothly and we have been impressed by their sound commercial judgement and energetic approach. The Cambista and CreditTrade fundings have demonstrated the firm's expertise in advising venture capital funds investing in the technology sector".

Jonathan Blake and Robert Searle provided advice on the establishment of the fund, and the SJ Berwin team for the investments consisted of Joanna Hamilton and Jonathan Betts.

Notes:

• SJ Berwin is a full-service international legal practice with more than 470 lawyers across its offices in London, Brussels, Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, Madrid and Paris.
• With a dedicated European private equity team comprising over 150 full-time corporate private equity lawyers together with support from its other departments, SJ Berwin advises clients on the full-range of private equity business, both in connection with the establishment of private equity funds and their associated incentive schemes, and on MBOs, MBIs, public-to-privates and venture capital investments.
• SJ Berwin recently won "Private Equity Law Firm of the Year: Firm and funds work" at the European Venture Capital Journal Awards and "Best Law Firm (fund documentation)" at the PrivateEquityOnline Awards, and was runner up in the category of "Best Law Firm (transactions)".
• SJ Berwin won the European Venture Capital Journal Award for Private Equity Law Firm of the Year 2000, Law Firm of the Year and Property Team of the Year at The Lawyer Awards 2000, and Competition Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards 2000.

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