Lucent/Bell Labs

In December 2001, Coller Capital acquired the majority (and subsequently all) of Lucent’s corporate venture portfolio. The assets consisted of 27 companies based on technologies developed at the well-known Bell Labs in the late 1980s and the early 1990s.

Coller Capital’s ability to resolve complex issues in a short time-frame was important to Lucent: “We decided to partner with Coller Capital because they responded quickly, and they clearly understood how to align the interests of Lucent, Coller Capital and our New Ventures Group management team.”

Key members of this management team were spun out as an independent GP: New Venture Partners.

The Lucent/Bell Labs transaction is often credited with kick-starting the thriving market in Secondary Directs (also known as ‘synthetic secondaries’).

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