Artis portfolio swells

Artis Capital Management, the hedge fund that invested in YouTube, increased its holdings by $180 million during the fourth quarter, according to regulatory filings. The investment firm now manages more than $1.5 billion in assets.

Artis sold about 20% of its total portfolio value during the fourth quarter, exchanging 59 stocks from its 147-stock portfolio for 36 new stocks.

At the end of 2006, it owned shares worth $125.4 million in Equity Office Properties Trust (NYSE: EOP), before the company was bought out by The Blackstone Group; it owned shares worth $116.3 million in Cypress Semiconductor (NYSE: CY), a former Sequoia Capital-backed company; and it owned shares worth $103.6 million in Intersil Corp. (Nasdaq: ISIL).

Artis also invests in the private equity market. It invested in Wi-Fi access point maker Aruba Wireless’ $19.3 million Series D financing in September 2005. The round later expanded to more than $30 million in 2006. The firm also participated in chipmaker Open Silicon’s $15 million Series C in October 2005, and it invested in online advertising service company AdBrite’s $8 million Series B in February 2006. Artis invested an undisclosed amount in YouTube’s Series B in April 2006. The video sharing website was bought last year by Google Inc. for $1.5 billion in stock, a sale that earned Artis $60.5 million, according to a recent regulatory filing by Google.

Each one of these tech startups have also been backed by Sequoia Capital. One of the Artis investors is David Lamond, the son of Sequoia Partner Pierre Lamond, as PE Week previously reported. —Alexander Haislip