DFJ Esprit's Encore Ventures Announces Major Exit
01 Mar 2010
Baxter International Inc. acquires ApaTech
Encore Ventures, a division of top tier European venture capital firm DFJ Esprit, today announced that Baxter International Inc. has agreed to acquire its portfolio company ApaTech for total consideration of up to $330m.
ApaTech specialises in synthetic bone repair materials for orthopedic and dental applications. The company was recently rated the 2nd fastest growing company in the UK in The Sunday Times Tech Track and remained Britain’s fastest growing medical technology company for the third successive year. In 2009, ApaTech was rated Europe’s fastest growing healthcare company in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 as a result of its outstanding five year sales growth rate of 8,318 per cent.
Encore Ventures, backed by global secondaries firms Coller Capital and HarbourVest Partners, acquired ApaTech along with a significant part of 3i's European venture portfolio in September 2009. Encore is the largest shareholder in ApaTech with a significant minority stake.
Dr Nigel Pitchford, ApaTech’s founding investor and Partner at Encore Ventures, said: "Having been involved in the company right from its embryonic stages as a university start up in 2001, it has been fantastic to help ApaTech achieve such impressive growth and profitability. It is truly a great example of the global success a European start-up can achieve.”
Simon Cartmell, CEO at ApaTech commented: “The financial support and business guidance that Nigel Pitchford and all our investors have provided, has been vital to the success which ApaTech has been able to deliver. It’s been a team effort.”
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About DFJ Esprit
DFJ Esprit is a leading cross-stage venture capital firm that invests in European technology companies. Members of the DFJ Esprit team have been active in technology investing since 1985 and have experience of investing in over 200 companies and generating strong returns for investors through building valuable global companies alongside the founders and management teams.
The DFJ Esprit partners have invested in many of Europe’s most successful venture exits of recent years, including Buy.at, Alphamosaic, KVS, CSR, Domantis and Arakis. DFJ Esprit is the exclusive European partner for Silicon Valley based Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) Global Network of venture funds, the largest such network in the world with $6bn under management and offices in 30 cities spanning four continents. Encore Ventures is a division of DFJ Esprit with a dedicated team focused on the acquisition of venture capital portfolios.
About ApaTechApaTech is a company specializing in synthetic bone repair materials for orthopedic and dental applications, and is a leader in the research and development of bone graft technologies. The company has enjoyed strong commercial success with products sold in the United States, E.U., and select markets around the world. ApaTech’s current major shareholders are Encore Ventures (a division of DFJ Esprit) and U.S. investor, Healthcor Partners. Other shareholders include MTI, which provided the early stage capital, founder shareholders and members of ApaTech’s management team. More details can be found at www.apatech.com.