Investment fund will support companies with annual revenue of up to R$ 12 million
On August 29, the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) launched a call for tenders for the selection of the National Manager of the Seed Fund Criatec 3, aimed at capitalizing innovative micro and small companies in the sectors of ICT, Biotechnology , New Materials, Nanotechnology and Agribusiness. Proposals must be submitted by October 29, 2014.
The investment fund will support companies with annual net operating revenue of a maximum of R$ 12 million in the year immediately prior to the investment being approved. The maximum investment amount per company, in a first capitalization, will be R$ 3 million. Other capitalizations by the Fund may occur in some of the invested companies, and the additional investment (s) per company may reach up to more than R$ 4 million, limited to a total of R$ 7 million.
Criatec 3 will last for 10 years (the first four refer to the investment period) and committed equity estimated at, at least, R$ 200 million. BNDESPAR's participation may reach up to 80% of the Fund's committed equity (limited to R$ 160 million).
In addition to BNDESPAR, the following institutions have shown interest in being shareholders of the Fund: Pernambuco State Development Agency (Agefepe), Espirito Santo Development Bank (Bandes), Minas Gerais Development Bank (BDMG), Regional Development Bank do Extremo Sul (BRDE), Latin American Development Bank (CAF) and Valid S / A. Other investors may be brought into the managers' proposals and other potential investors may have access to the proposals submitted.
The Fund will have a national manager and at least six areas of activity, with regional representatives of the national manager and their respective management teams. Only the national manager will be selected at this first moment, while the regional representatives will have to be approved by the Fund's Investment Committee within the first 12 months of operation.
The six centers of activity are distributed in the following locations: one in the state of Amazonas or Pará; one in Pernambuco or Paraíba; a pole in the State of Santa Catarina or Paraná; and three centers located in cities in the Southeast region, one of which must be in Minas Gerais.
It will be the responsibility of the Fund's national manager to hire regional representatives and establish the best practices related to prospecting opportunities, accelerating invested companies and divestments of the portfolio, seeking uniformity in the Fund's performance vis-à-vis all regional representatives.
The launch of Criatec 3 is the result of the good performance of the other two previous funds and reflects the priority established by the BNDES in fostering entrepreneurship and innovation, creating mechanisms to support innovative micro and small companies in their nascent stage.
Criatec 1 and 2 - The first fund in the Criatec series was launched in January 2007, with a committed equity of R$ 100 million, R$ 80 million from BNDESPAR and R$ 20 million from Banco do Nordeste do Brasil (BNB). Criatec 1 companies sold 834 products in 2013 (up 14.4% compared to 2012) and applied for 41 patents in Brazil and six abroad in the last two years. In 2013, 26 new products were launched, generating an additional turnover of R$ 7.6 million, with exports of R$ 6.8 million.
Criatec 2 was launched in December 2013, with a committed equity of R$ 186 million - R$ 123.7 million from BNDESPAR, R$ 30 million from BNB, R$ 10 million from BDMG, R$ 10 million from Banco de Brasília (BRB) , R$ 10 million from the Development Bank of Rio Grande do Sul (Badesul) and R$ 2.3 million from the Fund's manager, Bozano Investimentos. The fund is still open to receive investment proposals.
Details and other information about Criatec 3, are available on here.
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