We’re hours away from it being official: the Atlantic Regional Venture Capital Fund will not open on schedule in February 2012. But people in the know tell me that the negotiations on hiring a manager for the fund are proceeding – they’re just taking longer than expected.

One complicating factor is that the talks include “potential LPs” which means that several parties must be satisfied before the organizers can announce the hiring of a manager.

Let’s backtrack a bit: Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have each committed $15 million to a venture capital fund, and have hired Wilson Executive Search to find a manager, be it an individual or existing institution. Press reports have said the frontrunners for the position are Tony Van Bommel, a manager with BDC Venture Capital in Vancouver, and Patrick Keefe, the vice-president of investments at Innovacorp.

The difficulty is that the fund must be larger than $30 million in order to operate efficiently, so the organizers want other parties – or Limited Partners, known in the trade as LPs – to invest money in the fund. Certainly, they would like Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador to contribute, along with the federal government through BDC. But they also want at least one private investor – and these private sector representatives will insist on an experienced manager with a stellar track record.

From what I can tell – and people engaged in the talks are being tight-lipped – it is not simply a matter of designing a package that will allow the appointment of a manager, but writing a far-reaching agreement that will allow as many parties as possible to contribute to the fund, and hire a manager.

The fact that Innovacorp CEO Clifford Gross has resigned has not overly impacted the process as his place at the table has been taken by interim CEO Jacquelyn Thayer Scott. I’m told to expect an announcement sometime in March, but not to be surprised if that deadline drags out a bit again.

The Nova Scotia and New Brunswick governments had said previously the fund would open in February 2012, but that timeline fell by the wayside several months ago.