Share

New Energy Venture Fund Could Invest £75 Million in Aberdeen Upstream Firms

Venture capital specialist Energy Ventures (EV) has closed its fourth venture investment fund, with a total committed capital of $350 million (£215 million).

The new fund will follow the successful strategy of previous EV funds and invest in petroleum-related technology companies.

Energy Ventures estimated about $120 million of the EV IV fund could be available for investment in suitable Aberdeen and UK-based upstream oil and gas technology and service companies.

Ole Melberg, Energy Ventures managing partner, said: “We are pleased to announce the completion of raising the fourth Energy Ventures investment fund at the maximum of our intended range of $250-350 million.

“We are of the firm opinion that the timing for making oil and gas focused technology investments is good, with macro indicators developing favourably over the past year. The world will remain dependent on oil and gas as the main energy source for years to come and with conventional oil and gas resource more difficult to find, develop and produce, and new unconventional oil and gas resources providing fresh opportunities, the need for new technology products and solutions is there as never before.”

Energy Ventures focuses on companies with technologies and services that are well aligned with the mid and long term trends in the industry. As with the previous funds, EV IV will apply four key criteria when choosing companies in which to invest – groundbreaking technology; realistic financial projections, an international and scalable market, and a co-operative management with a proven ability to reach its goals.

Aberdeen based EV partner, Anoop Poddar, added: “We have a worldwide mandate but maintain our focus in making investment in the UK, Northern Europe and North America.

“Last year we led investments in UK technology companies worth £30 million and in the last three years our investments have supported up to 400 jobs within our portfolio companies.”

EV partner Greg Herrera added: “We anticipate up to one-third or about $120 million of the new EV IV fund could be invested in Aberdeen or UK upstream technology and service firms over the next three years. This represents a major inward investment to the UK economy and is a significant boost for the local economy here in Aberdeen.”

Energy Ventures’ first fund – Energy Ventures I – was established in 2002, and ranks among the best venture and private equity funds in terms of return to investors on a worldwide basis. Energy Ventures II was established in 2005, while Energy Ventures III was established in 2007. In total Energy Ventures has around $750 million under management – including Energy Ventures IV.

In late 2010 EV IV made its first investment when investing in the US company Wireless Seismic and is considering a number of potential investments from the new fund which will be rolled out this year and in 2012.

299 views