Azini picks up Bear Stearns venture fund

Technology-focused secondaries firm Azini Capital Partners has acquired all of the Lynx Capital Ventures fund from Bear Stearns Asset Management (BSAM).

Azini has purchased all of the 82.6 percent limited partnership interests in the fund owned by Bear Stearns, the now defunct investment banking giant. Azini will become the new manager of the €36 million ($50 million) fund, currently managed by London-based BSAM.

“We are delighted with Azini’s purchase and their taking on the management of the Lynx portfolio,” Kenneth Ibbett, who managed the fund under BSAM, said in a statement.

Lynx Capital Ventures currently has investments tied in five companies, including Investis, an online corporate communication specialist for European listed companies; OB10, an electronic invoicing network; and Shazam, a provider of over-the-air and internet music recognition technology.

Founded in 2004, Surrey, UK-based Azini focuses on acquiring individual or small portfolios of shareholding in private and public technology companies. The firm’s only other disclosed investment in a venture capital fund is in Pond Ventures, the Silicon Valley- and London-based venture firm focused on expanding European companies globally.