3TS signs up to Turkish co-investment programme

3TS Capital Partners, the Central and Eastern European private equity firm, has signed-up to a €6m co-investment agreement with the Istanbul Venture Capital Initiative (iVCi).

The money will be used to invest in companies in the technology, media and telecommunications sector, with 3TS’ capital coming from its joint fund with US IT giant, Cisco.

Richard Pelly, chief executive of the European Investment Fund which advises the iVCi, said: “The co-investment deal with 3TS and Cisco is a landmark transaction for Turkish venture capital as it focuses on earlier stage transactions in a specialised sector. Thanks to iVCi, we are collaborating not only with 3TS Capital Partners, a successful VC player, but also with Cisco, a global leader in its field and a company that has demonstrated its long-term commitment to Turkey.”

iVCi was launched in November 2007, and is Turkey’s first ever dedicated fund of funds and co-investment programme. To date it has around €160m committed, and is backed by the Small and Medium Industry Development Organisation of Turkey (KOSGEB), the Technology Development Foundation of Turkey (TTGV), the Development Bank of Turkey (TKB), Garanti Bank, the National Bank of Greece Group (NBG Group) and the European Investment Fund (EIF).