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The Applied Research Council announced today (Wednesday) the appointment of three venture capital firms to be the managers of the Applied Research Fund.
The Applied Research Council is a company wholly owned by the Government to administer and manage the Applied Research Fund, a scheme providing funding support to local companies undertaking technology ventures.
The Government has injected a total of $750 million into the Applied Research Fund.
The three venture capital firms appointed to be managers of the Fund are: Walden International Investment Group, HSBC Private Equity Management Limited and AsiaTech Ventures Limited.
The Chairman of the Applied Research Council, Dr Cheng Hon-kwan, representatives of the three selected venture capital firms and other guests attended an Agreement Signing Ceremony today.
"The Council's mission is to facilitate more technology ventures and applied research and development activities in Hong Kong," said Dr Cheng at the ceremony.
"The appointment of professional managers for the Fund marks a very important milestone in the work of the Applied Research Council," Dr Cheng added.
"These professional venture capital firms should be able to add value to the technology ventures supported by the Council.
"With their experience and expertise in managing technology investments, we believe they could provide valuable strategic, marketing, networking, management and technical support."
Under the terms of the Management Agreements, each of the three fund managers will be responsible for managing part of the Applied Research Fund.
The managers will be responsible for identifying potential technology ventures for investment, conducting commercial assessment and making investment decisions.
They are required to manage the Fund in accordance with the investment guidelines in the Management Agreement. Specifically, they are required to invest in local companies.
The investee companies must have a substantial connection to Hong Kong, and their activities must have a technology element.
The managers are also required to make regular reports to the Council on their investments and the business conditions of the funds.
The Applied Research Council will be involved in the decision-making process to ensure that the public mission of the Council is followed.
The amount of funds allocated to the three managers is $300 million each for Walden International Investment Group and HSBC Private Equity Management Limited, and $150 million for AsiaTech Ventures Limited.
The Director-General of Industry, Mr Francis Ho, also attended the ceremony. He said, "The SAR Government is committed to making Hong Kong an innovation and technology centre of the region, and would make the essential investments to upgrade our infrastructure to drive forward innovation and technology upgrading."
End/Wednesday, November 4, 1998
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