Professor Sherman Abe has been a member of the Gimv Asia Advisory Council, which consists of eight members located in Asia, since 2006. The objective of the GAAC is to help Gimv's management keep abreast of developments in Asia, and the GAAC acts as a sounding board whenever Gimv's portfolio companies are targeting opportunities in Asia. Meetings are held twice a year in either Europe or Asia.

Gimv, established in 1980 and headquartered in Antwerp, is the largest private equity and venture capital investment company in Belgium. It is listed on the Euronext Brussels with total assets under management of approximately EUR 2 billion, as of June 30, 2010. Gimv is 27% owned by the Flemish government.

In addition to its headquarters, Gimv has offices in the Netherlands, Germany, and France, as well as partnerships and funds in Russia and Kazakhstan for investments into Central Europe. Gimv invests venture capital in high-tech sectors as well, under the management of its specialized teams in Life Sciences, Technology, and Cleantech. Specifically in the Benelux, Gimv also focuses on infrastructure projects through its Funds DG Infra+ and DG Infra Yield.

In February 2008, Gimv announced that it is a co-sponsor investor along with the Development Bank of Japan and Fintech Global Inc. in the FINTECH Gimv Fund, a new venture capital fund specializing in technology sectors in Japan with a focus in ICT, new materials, and life sciences.

Effective April 2008, Gimv established a chaired professorship at Hitotsubashi ICS. Professor Abe became the first faculty member appointed to the Gimv chair. The students at Hitotsubashi ICS taking his Corporate Finance and Equity Investments courses gain first-hand general insights into the European PE and VC world. This enables our students to better understand the business linkages between Asia and Europe.

Gimv recently celebrated its 30th anniversary with a talk show attended by several hundreds of guests representing the company’s past, present, and future. The “Gimvolution,” as Gimv called the event, is a reference to the two terms that define Gimv, “evolution” and “revolution.”