International private equity firm Cinven has closed its strategic financials fund (SFF) at €1.5bn (€1.3bn, €1.5bn) of total capital committed.
The SFF builds on Cinven’s strategy to invest in the European financial services market focused on areas such as life and non-life insurance and reinsurance, asset-backed speciality finance, wealth management, insurance distributors and other ‘capital light’ financial service providers.
The fund is focused on investing in companies with “long-term track records of consistent growth and cash generation across a broad spectrum of the European financial services sector, drawing on Cinven’s extensive network of relationships, origination skills and expertise”, the firm said in a statement.
The SFF has made three investments to date:
- March 2021: Miller, a specialist insurance and re-insurance broker, acquired in partnership with GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund;
- April 2021: Compre, a global consolidator of closed books of non-life insurance policies, acquired in partnership with British Columbia Investment Management Corporation; and
- February 2022: International Financial Group Limited (IFGL), the life insurance provider of cross-border, long-term savings products for internationally mobile clients – parent company of RL360.
Core focus
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.”
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.”
