Johnson & Johnson has signed an agreement to set up a joint venture with the Polaris and Omega venture capital funds. The joint venture, Lapid Medical Venture, will invest in Israeli medical equipment companies, said Polaris joint general manager Hemi Peres.
The three companies will jointly finance the costs of the joint venture and will participate equally in the investments. At the same time, each fund will be able to invest separately in other companies with no connection to the joint venture.
Johnson & Johnson is operating through its venture capital arm, according to the model of its activity in four other joint ventures in Europe and the US. Peres added that the joint venture was the first of its kind in Israel, and this was the first time the company’s had entered into this field of activity in Israel.
The Polaris and Omega funds are owned by Clal Industries, the Marshal Butler group of the US, and Banque Nationale de Paris. Lapid is currently investigating business opportunities in the medical field, and is about to invest in one of them in the next few weeks. The parties will jointly examine opportunities from the scientific, technological, and marketing points of view, as well as carrying out due diligence examinations and constructing the deals.
Omega general manager Hillel Milo, and joint Polaris general managers Peres and Rami Kalish said they expected investments totalling tens of millions of dollars in the next few years. Johnson & Johnson has invested some $300 million in 80 companies since 1990.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on June 15, 1998