Deals round-up – VENTURE CAPITAL

Pharma web deal for Granville Baird

Granville Private Equity’s TEC PLUS III venture capital fund, along with Catalana d’iniciatives and Ibersuizas, has invested A2.3 million ($2.1 million) in Software de Medicina Softmed’ a Spanish multimedia and web design company in return for a 58 per cent equity stake. The remaining stake stays with the company’s management team.

Softmed provides IT services and software solutions to the medical and pharmaceutical industries. It focuses on two areas: production of interactive CD-ROMs providing information on the use of new pharmaceutical products, and the development and maintenance of websites for pharmaceutical companies and medical associations. Softmed’s existing customers include the Spanish Cardiology Society, Bayer, Bristol Myers, Glaxo Wellcome and Astra Zeneca.

TEC PLUS III, which had its first closing in March this year, is an IT and telecom focused fund expect to reach final close at around Ptas5,000 million/ GBP24million. The fund has four partners: Granville Private Equity Spain, Safei, (some of its clients have also invested), Iberdrola and the European Investment Fund.

TEC PLUS III is run by Granville Private Equity Spain a joint venture between Granville Baird and Safei, an independent Spanish stockbroker and pension fund manager.

Granville Baird was created in November 1999 following the merger of Granville plc and Robert W Baird & Co, a US investment banking and brokerage firm. Other TEC PLUS III investments to date have been with the software developer Synera and the interactive IT services company Telenium.