Israeli venture capital funds continued to disappoint in 2011, according to California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS). According to IVC, Israeli venture capital funds were involved in exits totaling $2.5 billion in 2011, more than double the figure for 2010, but this was still not enough to generate strong annual returns.
CalPERS, which manages $228 billion in assets, is the world's largest pension fund in terms of assets managed. Since the late 1990s, it has invested in several Israeli funds, including the Apax Partners Israel I Fund; Carmel Ventures' first, second and third funds; the Gemini III Fund; the Israel Seed IV Fund; Jerusalem Venture Partners' JVP IV Fund; and Pitango Venture Capital's third and fourth funds. It has also invested in Giza Venture Capital and Markstone Capital Partners Group LLC. The investments total $125 million.
It is possible that JVP's hefty exit in Qliktech Inc. (Nasdaq: QLIK) will be reflected in the future, when the results for the first or second quarter of 2012 are published, but JVP sold most of its holding in Qliktech in the first half of 2011 for $300 million. JVP's new $430 million fund should also be reflected. According to CalPERS, as of the end of 2011, JVP had a 30% return on investment, with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 3.5%.
The Carmel I Fund, raised in 2000, also had a positive IRR of 4.2% and a return on investment of 20%. The Carmel II Fund, raised in 2005, is still negative, on paper, with minus 10% return on investment and a minus 2.5% IRR. The Pitango IV Fund, raised in 2004, had an IRR of 3.8% and a return on investment of 20%.
Other funds with negative returns as of 2011, were the $500 million Pitango III Fund, raised in 2000, which has written off 20% of its value. The Israel Seed Fund, raised in 2001, has had a paper write-off of 60% and a negative return on investment of 13%. The Gemini Fund raised in 2000 has had a paper write-off of 10% and a negative return of 2.5%, and the Apax Israel Fund, has had a write-off of 30% and a negative return of 8%.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 2, 2012
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