Atlas Venture and Omega Fund Complete Secondary Transaction.WALTHAM Waltham (wôl`thăm, –thəm), city (1990 pop. 57,878), Middlesex co., E Mass., a suburb of Boston, on the Charles River; settled c.1634, set off from Watertown 1738, inc. as a city 1884. , Mass. & GENEVA, Switzerland Switzerland (swĭt`sərlənd), Fr. Suisse, Ger. Schweiz, Ital. Svizzera, officially Swiss Confederation, federal republic (2005 est. pop. 7,489,000), 15,941 sq mi (41,287 sq km), central Europe. -- Atlas Venture Atlas Venture is an international early-stage venture capital firm that invests in communications, information technology, and life sciences companies. Atlas Venture has investing offices in Boston, London, Munich, and Paris, and its investments are evenly divided between the , a leading international early-stage venture capital firm, and Omega Fund, a newly-formed healthcare-focused direct secondary investor, announced today the completion of a secondary transaction involving six life sciences companies in Europe Europe (y  r`əp), 6th largest continent, c.4,000,000 sq mi (10,360,000 sq km) including adjacent islands (1992 est. pop. 512,000,000). and the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Atlas Venture has
sold its remaining holdings in Cropdesign NV, DeveloGen AG, Entomed SA,
Micromet AG, Nitromed, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTMD) and VascA, Inc., to Omega
Fund. This is the first such deal for both firms, and marks one of the
first transactions in which an established, non-corporate, early-stage
venture capital firm has decided to sell a portfolio of private and
public legacy positions in its mature funds.
"We are very pleased with the outcome of this innovative transaction, and are confident that the companies involved will benefit from working with Omega Fund," said Joel Besse, senior partner with Atlas Venture. "Atlas Venture remains committed to making new investments in innovative life sciences and technology companies, and supporting the growth of our existing portfolio." "We are delighted to have executed this transaction with Atlas Venture to the mutual satisfaction of all parties involved," said Otello Stampacchia, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Omega Advisors, advisor to the Omega Fund. "Secondary transactions are becoming a more established route to liquidity in the private equity industry. We believe this kind of transaction is particularly well-suited to healthcare companies, with their long product development life cycle and high capital intensity, which can apply some pressure to the traditional venture capital fund length." About Atlas Venture Atlas Venture is the leading international early-stage venture capital firm, investing in information technology, communications and life sciences companies. With investing offices in Boston, London, Munich and Paris, Atlas Venture divides its investments between the United States and Europe. Founded in 1980, Atlas Venture has organized six international funds, and currently manages $2.1 billion in committed capital. The Atlas Venture investment team comprises seasoned operating executives and career venture capitalists Venture Capitalist An investor who provides capital to either start-up ventures or support small companies who wish to expand but do not have access to public funding. Notes: Venture capitalists usually expect higher returns for the additional risks taken. who have been deeply involved in the formation and development of more than 300 companies worldwide. For more information about Atlas Venture, go to www.atlasventure.com. About Omega Fund Omega Advisors is the investment advisor Investment Advisor 1. A person making investment recommendations in return for a flat fee or percentage of assets managed, known as a commission. 2. For mutual fund companies, it is the individual who has the day-to-day responsibility of investing and monitoring the cash and for Omega Fund, an investment vehicle specializing in the purchase and management of secondary portfolios of direct investments in healthcare companies. Omega invests in both private and public companies through negotiated acquisitions, which provide liquidity to previous investors and to the investee companies a new shareholder with fresh financial resources and value-added management capabilities. |
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