NEW YORK-Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, N.J., has created a venture capital subsidiary to identify and invest in emerging technologies.
Henry Schacht, who retired Feb. 18 as chairman of the parent company, has become chairman of the new, wholly owned subsidiary, Lucent Venture Partners Inc. It will focus on technology in high-growth areas, like wireless telecommunications, data networking, semiconductors, communications software and professional services.
“We will be looking at direct investments and at partnerships with venture capital firms,” said Richard McGinn, Lucent Technologies’ chief executive officer and new chairman.
John Hanley, who is Lucent Technologies’ vice president for strategy development, has become managing general partner in charge of daily operations for Lucent Venture Partners. Among his many responsibilities, Hanley managed Lucent Technologies’ initial public offering in April 1996.
Lucent Technologies has committed an initial investment of $100 million, “over the next several years” to the venture capital subsidiary, said Bill Price, corporate media relations manager. This sum is in addition to the research and development funding Lucent has committed to its Bell Laboratories division-about $3 billion, or 11 percent of revenue last fiscal year.
For the new Lucent Venture Partners, decisions have yet to be made regarding issues like dollar limits on investments in individual companies or venture capital funds and whether or when the parent might invest more capital in the subsidiary, Price said.
“While return on investment is important, the primary focus is to recognize work going on outside our walls and to leverage it back into our own operations,” he said.
Lucent Venture Partners plans to have an office on each coast, possibly one in New York where Schacht’s office is, and another in California’s Silicon Valley, Price said. It anticipates announcing its first investments by mid-year, he added.
Later this month, Price said Lucent Venture Partners will have its own pages on Lucent’s Web site for interested parties to access updated information.
