Thanks for the article. The following is from the January 3, 2000 issue of the Chicago Tribune:
Officials at divine interVentures have always been sensitive about how people refer to the company. They insist that divine is a holding company, not a venture capital firm.
The importance of that distinction for the Lisle-based company is clear in divine's filing last month with the Securities and Exchange Commission of its $250 million initial public offering.
If it is considered an investment company, divine would be forced to alter its current mix of acquisitions and investments. "We may need to sell assets which we would otherwise want to retain and may be unable to sell assets which we would otherwise want to sell," the filing stated.
divine, though, doesn't expect that this will be a problem.
A company spokesman said divine is following the model of Internet Capital Group, a Wayne, PA-based company that also invests in young Internet firms and was granted an exemption by the SEC from following the regulations of investment companies.
"We intend on [applying for] the same thing in the not too distant future," the spokesman said.
For now, though, divine is concentrating on its IPO, which the company expects will happen in April.
So far, divine has raised $400 million, including $100 million from Dell Computer Corp. and $25 million from Microsoft. Andrew "Flip" Flipowski, divine's chairman and chief executive, has said he expects to raise $4 billion for the company in the next five years.
The SEC filing also discusses divine's strategy to provide infrastructure and venture capital money in the Midwest and "other underserved markets." Another divine spokesman said those other markets are likely to include Seattle, Austin, Texas, Calgary, Alberta and Tel Aviv. |
