July 21, 2001

Internet Companies Delay Share Sales to 2003, Israel's JVP Says

2001-06-21 04:52 (New York)

London, June 21 (Bloomberg) -- Cogent Communications, CyOptics, TeleKnowledge and other Internet start-up companies partly funded by Jerusalem Venture Partners will probably delay selling shares until 2003 following a drop in prices for computer shares worldwide, said Erel Margalit, JVP's managing partner.

Cogent, an Internet cables provider that had considered listing this year, will instead raise $100 million more from private equity investors, said Margalit, whose company owns 18 percent. Also stalling is TeleKnowledge, an Internet software maker that was set to list at the end of 2000, and CyOptics, which makes electro-optical telecommunications equipment and is JVP's biggest single investment.

"Right now, we don't see any company going to the market" that JVP owns, Margalit said. The company has started partnering with other investors to ensure "that between the two or three of us there will be deep enough pockets to last 18 months or more."

JVP's investors include France Telecom SA, Boeing Co. and Reuters Group Plc.

The company, which manages about $600 million in assets, has been raising money for a new venture capital fund to invest in Internet companies globally, targeting $500 million by September. It's already beaten the $160 million raised for JVP's first fund two years ago, Margalit said.

"There hasn't been such an attractive time as this for people who know where they're going," Margalit said.