BANKING / FINANCE : Venture Capitalists Attract $60 Million to Start New Fund

Enterprise Partners, a Newport Beach venture capital firm, has attracted $60 million from major corporations and pension funds to form a second venture fund that will be used to invest in new and young Southern California companies.

With the $60 million, Enterprise Partners now has $90 million of capital under its management.

“We’re very much regionally focused,” general partner Charles D. Martin said. “We expect to continue doing what we’ve been doing.

The first fund--which generated $30 million in 1985--was invested in or committed to 17 companies, mainly medical, technology and health care firms in Orange and San Diego counties. One of the companies it invested in, Elgar Electronics of San Diego, has been sold, generating a return of 15 times the fund’s initial investment.

Partners in the second fund, he said, include Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Newport Beach, New York Life Insurance Co., General Motors Corp. Retirement System, Citicorp and large pension fund administrators such as Horsly Keogh & Associates and Chancellor Capital Management.