MANAMA, 22 September 2005 — Bahrain-based global investment bank Investcorp said on Tuesday it had sold its stakes in PortalPlayer in the United States and Germany’s Utimaco, securing a return of about $70 million.
Technology investment is Investcorp’s venture capital business managing about $500 million in two funds. It is one of four alternative investment offerings alongside private equity, real estate and hedge funds.
PortalPlayer and Utimaco are the latest in a line of profitable realizations from Investcorp’s Technology Ventures Fund I. During Fiscal 2005, the technology investment unit had already achieved four other highly successful realizations for the fund, including the original initial public offering (IPO) of PortalPlayer. With these exits, Fund I will have returned approximately 60 percent of its committed capital to investors, placing Fund I in the top quartile for venture capital funds of the 2000/2001 era.
PortalPlayer, based in California, designs semiconductors and software for digital music players. In particular, PortalPlayer sells to manufacturers in Asia who are believed to use its technology in the highly successful Apple iPod. Investcorp was one of the lead investors in PortalPlayer, originally investing in 2002. PortalPlayer currently has a market capitalization of over $600 million.
Utimaco, based in Germany, makes security software to protect the electronic data of companies and government bodies against unauthorized access.