DFJ Esprit to manage 3i venture portfolio

Private equity group 3i has sold off its stakes in several European-based technology businesses, which will now be managed by venture capital (VC) firm DFJ Esprit.

Investments in such “disruptive” ventures as Icera Semiconductors (pictured), Light Blue Optics, The Cloud and CamSemi will now be administered by a new division of DFJ Esprit named Encore Ventures.

Encore Ventures’ first fund, Encore I, will have a maximum size of $280 million (£170 million). Global secondaries firms Coller Capital and HarbourVest Partners are the sole investors, and thus effectively the acquirers of the 3i portfolio companies.

Peter Wilson, managing director at HarbourVest Partners, says the transaction provided ‘a rare opportunity to acquire high-quality European-based venture assets’.

DFJ Esprit CEO Simon Cook says, ‘We are excited to be the first mainstream venture firm to establish a dedicated portfolio secondary team working alongside our primary fund team.’

Encore Ventures is headed by Charles Cameron and Brian Robertson, whose backgrounds include operational management, mergers and acquisitions and capital raising for European technology companies. Members of 3i’s venture portfolio team will also join Encore as partners.

3i, which was advised in this transaction by private equity specialist Campbell Lutyens and law firm SJ Berwin, last year decided to move out of early-stage investments in favour of larger deals.

The deal comes as DFJ Esprit announces a fundraising targeting 150 million for its third fund, of which 70 million has already been secured.