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Technology Stocks : Safeguard Scientifics SFE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Teflon who wrote (3206)	7/12/1999 12:30:00 PM
From: Teflon	Respond to of 4467

Part II of the SFE/ICG Article: The ICG collectors begin with CEO Walter Buckley, a former mergers and acquisitions executive with Safeguard Scientifics (SFE:NYSE). Safeguard, also based in Wayne, is best known as an early investor in Novell (NOVL:Nasdaq) and Cambridge Technology Partners (CATP:Nasdaq). Safeguard is also ICG's single biggest investor, with an 18% stake. Other major investors in ICG include Compaq (CPQ:NYSE), Comcast (CMCSA:Nasdaq) and General Electric Capital. ICG's connections go deeper than grubstakes from industrial behemoths. The company has slavishly followed one of Silicon Valley's favorite strategies for priming the stock market and potential customer base by setting up an advisory board of industry heavy hitters. The model is simple: Recruit big shots, give them stock and get their wisdom for the benefit of portfolio companies. ICG's advisory board includes execs from Cisco Systems (CSCO:Nasdaq), Coca-Cola (KO:NYSE), Exodus Communications (EXDS:Nasdaq), IBM (IBM:NYSE) and Merrill Lynch (MER:NYSE). Not coincidentally, Merrill is lead underwriter for ICG's offering. On one level, it is somewhat disturbing that ICG wants to go public at all. Venture firms historically maintain funds that take years to pay off, making quarterly performance effectively meaningless. But ICG has said it wants to be a combination of a venture-capital firm, a leveraged-buyout company that can commit large amounts of capital, and a G.E.-like holding company, lending the expertise of its top brass to each partner company. And of course, ICG wants to participate in the craze for Internet stocks through its investments and through its own stock. But that part, you already knew. Teflon