EFT Announces First Closing of Fund

ETF - Environmental Technologies Fund is pleased to announce the first closing of its first fund on more than Euro 50m ($70m). The fund has considerable additional indications of interest and anticipates a second close in Q1 2007.

Investors in this first close include Swiss Re, the European Investment Fund (EIF),  and a number of leading pension funds and financial institutions. ETF believes itself  to be the first Cleantech fund in Europe to be backed exclusively by financial  institutions.
 
Environmental Technologies Fund will invest in outstanding growth companies  operating in areas in a broad definition of clean technologies and services. Sectors  include energy storage and conservation, emissions reduction, renewable energy,  water, ?smart building? technologies, applied materials and recycling. It will invest on a pan-European basis.
 
Cleantech is a rapidly growing category in the venture capital industry. In Europe, close to Euro 1bn annually has been invested in the sector from venture capital investors in recent years. In the United States, Cleantech has become the third largest investment category after biotechnology and software, growing from less than 2% in 1999 to 13% in 2006.
 
Commenting on the first close, Peter Gujer, Head of Alternative Investments at Swiss Re, said: "Before deciding to invest in ETF we undertook a detailed survey of
relevant Cleantech funds on both sides of the Atlantic. We decided to back ETF at an
early stage as we were convinced by ETF's dedicated team and its outstanding venture capital investing and sector expertise".
 
The three Founding Partners are Henrik Olsen, Patrick Sheehan and Peter Horsburgh; the chairman is David Quysner who is also chairman of Abingworth.
 
For further information please contact Peter Horsburgh  +44 (0)20 7734 1368

By: Peter Horsburgh