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Invest like the big guys
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December 6, 2000: 9:18 a.m. ET
New joint venture offers individuals VC investment pools like institutions
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A new partnership between two financial services companies will give wealthy individuals the chance to invest in funds previously only available to large institutional investors.
San Francisco-based Thomas Weisel Partners and New York-based Scudder Kemper Investments Inc. announced Tuesday the formation of a joint venture, Scudder Weisel Capital, which will offer individuals access to venture capital funds, private equity portfolios and hedge funds.
"For the first time, we'll connect these investors to the same, elite investment management firms and investment products formerly available only to university endowments, private foundations, pension funds and Fortune 500 companies," said Boyd Fellows, Scudder Weisel CEO. "And we'll do it for investment minimums far below what would be required for institutional investors."
Based in San Francisco, Scudder Weisel is targeting successful entrepreneurs and other individuals with more than $1 million in investable assets. Minimum investments at Scudder Weisel funds will start at $25,000. Typically, the minimum investment for institutional investors is between $1 million and $5 million.
Weisel's brain child
The new company is the brain child of Thomas Weisel, former CEO of Montgomery Securities. Weisel had wanted to create a business that would help high net worth individuals get access to the investment funds previously only available to institutional investors, said Scudder Weisel spokeswoman Kim Kellogg.
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For the first time, we'll connect these investors to the same, elite investment management firms and investment products formerly available only to university endowments, private foundations, pension funds and Fortune 500 companies.
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Boyd Fellows
CEO, Scudder Weisel Capital |
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The search led to a partnership with Scudder Kemper Investments, an 80-year old asset management firm that manages more than $290 billion worldwide for mutual fund investors, retirement and pension plans, institutional and corporate clients.
The two companies believe the investment option they plan to offer, beginning in January 2001, will lead them to a largely-untapped segment of the investing public. Peter Mattoon, Scudder Weisel's president, said there is a growing number of millionaires in the U.S. who are savvy investors clamoring to make the types of investments only available to institutional investors.
"Though Thomas Weisel Partners, we are able to give investors the ability to invest with some of the leading venture capitalists and private/public equity funds," said Mattoon. "In addition to this access, our investors will benefit from the high-volume deal flow and institutional research capabilities of Thomas Weisel Partners."
Funds open in January
Scudder Weisel's funds will not make direct investments in non-public companies. Rather, the company offers packaged sets of products managed by professional managers in the areas of venture capital and public market/private equity investments.
The funds that Scudder Weisel plans to offer will be managed by firms that are contracted by Scudder Weisel to create funds in these high risk investment categories. Company executives said they would be scouting the investment world and contract with the best managers suited to create the different funds Scudder Weisel hopes to offer.
The first fund, dubbed the Entrepreneurs Fund, will be available to qualified investors in January. Scudder Weisel executives declined to give any information on the fund because it is in registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Several funds, the number and nature of which is yet to be determined, will be offered later in 2001. 
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