Tandem Expansion builts on BDC's $75 million

The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) announced today it has selected the manager of a new private sector
growth capital fund, Tandem Expansion Fund. The fund will provide financing to Canadian technology growth companies and fills a significant void in the Canadian market for growth capital.

BDC, which played a leading role in the creation of the fund, will invest $75 Million. These funds were provided by the Government of Canada, which allocated $75 Million in the 2008 budget to support the creation of a new privately run venture capital fund. In addition to the $75 Million investment from BDC, Tandem has received preliminary commitments from a number of institutional and private investors and expects a first close on the Fund of $300 Million this summer.

The general partner of the fund is Tandem Expansion, co-founded by two of Canada's most experienced venture capital/private equity investors, Charles Sirois and Brent Belzberg. Mr. Sirois, who was recently appointed Chairman of CIBC, founded Telesystem in 1984, which has since invested more than $1 Billion in venture opportunities of all stages through its various funds. Mr. Belzberg is the Founder and Senior Managing Partner of TorQuest, one of Canada's leading private equity firms with more than $700 Million in private equity capital under management.

Tandem's day-to-day operations will be managed by a team led by four managing partners - David Bookbinder, André Gauthier, Christopher Legg, and Alex Moorhead.  Tandem will be based in Toronto and Montreal, and plans to eventually open an office in Western Canada.