TDC Consolidates its Outside Investments

Denmark's TDC says that it is combining its investment activities under one joint management team. Vice President at TDC Torben V. Holm, who is already responsible for most of TDC's acquisitions and divestments, will in future also be responsible for TDC's venture investments made through TDC Innovation.

"We have seen major changes in the venture business over the last three years. And this is why TDC Innovation's focus and priorities have now been changed. The business is focusing increasingly on earnings and cash flow. This also applies to TDC Innovation's portfolio. Therefore there is a need to review the investment portfolio at TDC Innovation," says Torben V. Holm - and he continues:

"TDC Innovation's portfolio includes a number of exiting and viable business concepts, which we will continue to try to develop. At the same time, we will also in future be open to new investments."

TDC Innovation has, among other things, invested in the company Realtime, which produces applications for the MMS technology, i.e. picture messages, for mobile phones. The customers are not only located in Denmark, but in many different countries. Another promising investment is the company BilletMaskinen that sells tickets from Denmark's largest concert organizer, DKB Motor. The strong cards in the portfolio also include companies such as Enologic that produces Internet filters and CoinClick that has developed a micropayment system for use on the Internet in cooperation with, among others, the banks Danske Bank and Nordea.

In connection with the change in TDC Innovation's focus and strategy, the company's former vice president, Carsten Gaarn-Larsen, has decided that after three years as vice president of TDC Innovation, the time has come to seek new challenges, preferably within TDC. Carsten Gaarn-Larsen will for the time being act as advisor to Torben V. Holm.

TDC Innovation was established on April 13, 2000 with the purpose of investing actively in small, typically newly established growth companies and in companies supporting the development in the TDC Group. Fourteen investments have been made till this date and TDC Innovation is no longer actively involved in four of these."

Posted to the site on 23rd June 2003