Mountain plans second German clean-tech fund

London, 12 November: Mountain Cleantech, a Switzerland-based investment group, plans to launch its second fund targeting the clean technology (clean-tech) sector in German-speaking countries.

The company aims to raise €100 million ($149 million) into the fund, which will focus on late-stage investments and be structured as a Luxembourg-based Sicav. First closing is expected in the second quarter of 2010.

There is “fantastic investment potential” in this sector in Germany, Jürgen Habichler, managing director of Mountain, told a meeting of investors in London on 6 November.

The country has the biggest share of global trade in environmental protection products and dominates several key clean-tech industries, he said. Yet there is much less venture capital money targeting the German market than the UK, he noted.

By concentrating on late-stage investments, Mountain said the fund should have relatively low technology risk, offer high rates of return and allow for a short exit timetable.

Mountain’s first clean-tech investment fund – Cleantech Invest AG – was launched in 2007 and currently boasts a portfolio of six companies with aggregate revenues of more than €320 million.