International private equity investment group, Cinven, has closed its inaugural strategic financials fund (SFF) at €1.5 billion.
The SFF builds on Cinven’s leading financial services investment platform in Europe with an investment strategy focused on areas where the company has developed significant investment expertise, such as life and non-life re/insurance, asset-backed speciality finance, wealth management, insurance distributors and other ‘capital light’ financial service providers.
So far, the SFF has made three investments to date: In March 2021, it invested in Miller, a specialist re/insurance broker, in April 2021, it invested in Compre, a specialist global consolidator of closed books of non-life insurance policies, and in February 2022, it invested in International Financial Group Limited (IFGL), completion however, is still pending.
Moreover, Cinven has one of the leading financial services investing franchises in Europe, having built its expertise over more than a decade of investing.
In addition to the SFF investments, Cinven Funds’ other financial services investments include Viridium, True Potential, NewDay, and Premium Credit. Previous financial services investments by the Cinven Funds include Guardian Financial Services, Partnership Assurance and Avolon.
Stuart McAlpine, Managing Partner of Cinven, said: “For more than 30 years, Cinven has focused on building world class companies using its European focus and sector specialist expertise. We are delighted to have raised our inaugural Strategic Financials Fund and would like to thank Cinven’s long term investors for their continued support, and to welcome our new investors who have built conviction in the SFF’s investment strategy, the strength of the SFF team we have built, and Cinven’s unique capabilities in the financial services sector.”
Caspar Berendsen, Partner at Cinven who leads the Financial Services Sector team, commented: “The SFF draws on Cinven’s proven track record of investing in established European financial services businesses with long term track records of sustained growth and cash generation. Across the separate investment mandates of Cinven’s flagship fund and the SFF, Cinven’s financial services franchise is now better positioned than ever to support great management teams in building businesses in the European financial services sector.”
Luigi Sbrozzi, Partner and co-head of the SFF, added: “We are excited to hold the final close of the SFF which is uniquely positioned as one of the largest pools of capital solely dedicated to financial services in Europe. We are off to a strong start already, having signed three high quality SFF investments so far and we look forward to continuing to identify attractive future investment opportunities within our core focus areas of financial services.”
