Private Equity Week Wire for Thursday 11/2

? NEW YORK — BMO Nesbitt Burns, the investment banking division of Bank of Montreal (TSE; NYSE: BMO), announced today that its Halyard Capital Fund has invested in five companies: Southampton Photonics Inc., Inflow Inc., NETGEAR, YadaYada Inc. and Norigen Communications Inc. Robert B. Nolan, Jr., Executive Managing Director and Head of Global Media and Telecom Merchant Banking at BMO Nesbitt Burns, said, ” Our investments in these five companies represent the initial private equity investments of the Halyard Capital Fund. Each is an excellent company with strong growth prospects in one or more of our areas of concentration. Together, they reflect the central mission of the Halyard Capital Fund, namely to seek out exceptional emerging, high growth and established companies in the telecommunications, media and related Internet sectors.”
? ROSEMONT, ILL –In a conference call yesterday with the investment community, Comdisco, Inc. (NYSE: CDO) stated that it anticipates exceeding consensus Wall Street estimates for its fourth quarter ended September 30, 2000. The company also reiterated that its current financial resources and estimated cash flows from operations are considered adequate to fund anticipated future growth and operating requirements. Nick Pontikes, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated that the company anticipates that it should show strong results from all three of its core businesses, meeting or exceeding its pre-tax earnings targets for each of the businesses. In the leasing business, due to a strong remarketing performance during the quarter, the company anticipates it should exceed its pre-tax earnings target of $25 million by $2 to $3 million. The company expects the technology services business to meet its pre-tax profit target of $13 million.

? WELLESLEY, MA & HILDEN, GERMANY — ColeyPharmaceutical Group (Coley) has completed a $60 million internationalprivatefinancing to support and expand internal research and development programsofCpG-based products for the treatment of cancer, allergy, asthma andinfectiousdiseases, the company announced today. The financing was led by DWSInvestment GmbH (a member of the Deutsche Bank Group). Participants in theround also included new investors DVG (advised by AP Asset Management),Commerzbank Private Equity, Robertson Stephens’ Bayview 2000 and Global LifeScience Partners, as well as existing Coley investors Techno VentureManagement, QIAGEN N.V., Alpinvest Holding N.V. (NIB Capital) and AlafiCapital. Concurrent with the private placement, Coley has appointed AndreasBremer,Ph.D., Managing Director at AP Asset Management AG (APAM) to the company’sBoard of Directors.

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