Sofinnova Partners Voted 2008 "European Venture Capital Firm of the Year"

Paris (ots/PRNewswire) -

- Private Equity International Award Recognizes Sofinnova's
Investment Leadership in Promising Start-ups; 2009 off to Strong
Start in Portfolio Company M&A

Sofinnova Partners (http://www.sofinnova.fr), a Paris-based
venture capital firm, announced today that it has been awarded the
2008 "European Venture Capital Firm of the Year" by the publication
Private Equity International (PEI) and its on-line version, Private
Equity Online (PEO). The award recognizes Sofinnova's investment
expertise and leadership in Western Europe's technology and life
sciences industries throughout 2008.

"We are thrilled to be recognized for our solid investment style
during these turbulent economic times," said Jean Schmitt, managing
partner at Sofinnova Partners. "Since our creation in 1972, Sofinnova
has prided itself on being more than just a source of funding: we
feel that strategic venture capital plays a key role in the
development of a portfolio company, and the Sagem Wireless spin-off
in 2008, in particular, was an example of this approach."

Sofinnova orchestrated the spin-off of Sagem Wireless from Safran
Group, structuring Sagem Wireless as a future proof handset maker.
The spin-off was completed in December 2008. Sofinnova has a history
of working alongside companies with promising technologies and
nurturing them from inception to exit.

Sofinnova's 2008 investments totaled 88 million euros, split
between 70 million euros in follow-on rounds in 22 life sciences and
technology companies, and 18 million as lead investor in three new
financings, Creabilis (Italy), Mydeco (UK) and newly spun-off Sagem
Wireless (France). Sofinnova makes a point of working with serial
entrepreneurs, which in 2008 included, among others, Jean-Louis
Dasseux, CEO of Cerenis (formerly with Esperion), Philippe Dro, CEO
of GlycoVaxyn (former CEO of Endoart), Mydeco's founder, Brent
Hoberman (founder of lastminute.com), Steve Ives, CEO of Taptu
(former CEO of Trigenix), Edwin Moses, CEO of Ablynx (former CEO of
Oxford Asymmetry) and Simon Wilkinson, CEO of Purple Labs (founder of
Magic4).

In 2008, Sofinnova also set the stage for two exits that were
completed during the first two months of 2009.

"We have seen the merger of Purple Labs and Esmertec to form
Myriad, creating the European leader in software development for
mobile phones. In addition, we recently announced the acquisition of
CoreValve by Medtronic for $700 million plus additional payments, one
of the largest trade sales of a private, venture-backed medical
device company in history and Sofinnova Partners' largest win in its
35-year history," added Denis Lucquin, managing partner at Sofinnova
Partners. "We foresee strong M&A activity in 2009 for our portfolio
companies: technologies making a real difference for patients or for
customers will always be valuable-such is the beauty of venture. This
proves the non-correlation of venture to the rest of the economy."

The PEI/PEO Awards are the only awards voted for by industry
members themselves, with nearly 60,000 votes cast across all
categories. Award winners were announced March 2 on PEO's web site
and will be published in detail in its 2008 Private Equity Annual
Review. The second annual Private Equity International Awards Global
Winners' Celebration will take place on June 4 in London. Specific
votes per individual category were not disclosed.

About Sofinnova Partners

Sofinnova Partners is an independent venture capital firm based
in Paris, France. For over 35 years, the firm has backed nearly 500
companies at different stages of development - pure creations,
spin-offs, as well as turnaround situations - and worked alongside
Europe's key entrepreneurs in the technology, life sciences and
cleantech sectors. With more than EUR1 billion of funds under
management, Sofinnova Partners' experienced team and hands-on
approach in nurturing and supporting portfolio companies through to
exit have created market leaders and multiplied revenues, from
landmark historical investments including Genentech and Biogen to
more recent successes such as Actelion, Vistaprint and CoreValve.
With a global mindset, the firm has offices in Shanghai, China and a
sister organization in San Francisco, California. Please visit
http://www.sofinnova.fr for more information on Sofinnova's team and
portfolio.

ots Originaltext: Sofinnova Partners
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
Media contact: Christina Aplington, Ballou PR for Sofinnova, Tel:
+33(0)1-42-22-24-10, christina@balloupr.com