Cipio buys Infineon portfolio

Cipio Partners, the London and Munich-based secondary investor, has bought up another corporate venture capital portfolio, just months after acquiring similar interests from DaimlerChrysler and Deutsche Telekom.

The firm has purchased around 30 direct investments and several fund investments from Infineon Technologies. The transaction was led jointly with LGT Capital Partners, the fund of fund manager.

Infineon has managed the portfolio since 1998 and has been looking to sell since October. The portfolio includes investments in the semiconductor, micro-electronics and communications technology sectors.

Cipio acquired private equity portfolios from DaimlerChrysler and Deutsche Telekom late last year. The DaimlerChrysler purchase includes assets dating back to 1997, and about US$150m had been invested in the portfolio up to the point of sale. It includes Augeo Software of the Netherlands, which develops ERM applications.

The European secondary market is gaining momentum. Large deals to date include AXA’s US$782m purchase of Credit Agricole’s private equity assets and Coller’s US$554m to US$646m purchase of a portfolio from Abbey National.

A few months before the DaimlerChrysler transaction, Cipio bought a portfolio of 15 investments from T-Venture Holding, a unit of Deutsche Telekom. The portfolio sold includes investments in technology, media and telecommunications.

Cipio Partners was established in 2003 by Tom Anthofer, Werner Dreesbach and Hans-Dieter Koch, three former partners of leading private equity investment and advisory groups.