Berlin — The Euro­pean Invest­ment Bank (EIB) has inves­ted EUR 50 million in the German venture capi­tal fund copa­rion. copa­rion was origi­nally laun­ched by the ERP Special Fund (German Fede­ral Minis­try for Econo­mic Affairs and Energy) and KfW with a volume of EUR 225 million. The EIB’s parti­ci­pa­tion now increa­ses the fund volume to EUR 275 million.

As a co-invest­ment fund, copa­rion invests in young, high-growth and tech­no­logy-orien­ted compa­nies toge­ther with private sector inves­tors, ther­eby support­ing the venture capi­tal market in Germany. Through the co-invest­ments, the inten­ded total invest­ment volume of copa­rion (toge­ther with co-inves­tors) amounts to appro­xi­m­ately EUR 550 million.

The EIB is a long-term lending insti­tu­tion of the Euro­pean Union whose share­hol­ders are the EU Member States. The invest­ment in copa­rion is linked to the goal of streng­thening the emer­ging venture capi­tal market in Germany as well. The invest­ment is part of the so-called Invest­ment Offen­sive for Europe (“Juncker Plan”), which aims to create jobs by inves­t­ing in Europe.

Advi­sing EIB: P+P Pöllath + Part­ners provi­ded compre­hen­sive contrac­tual, tax, regu­la­tory and corpo­rate law advice to EIB in complex nego­tia­ti­ons on its invest­ment in copa­rion with the follo­wing private funds team.
Tarek Mardini (photo), LL.M. (UConn), Part­ner (Lead Part­ner, Private Funds, Berlin), Dr. Chris­tian Hille­brand, M.Litt. (St. Andrews), Senior Asso­ciate (Private Funds, Berlin), Dr. Joachim Mogck, LL.M. (San Fran­cisco), Senior Asso­ciate (Private Funds, Berlin).

Inhouse legal advice to the EIB was provi­ded by Dr. Chris­toph Diesel and Thomas Lugez.

Advi­sor to copa­rion: Dr. Wolf­gang Weit­nauer (Weit­nauer Rechts­an­wälte, Munich).