CVC Capital Completes $700M Purchase of RiverStone Europe from Fairfax

CVC Capital Partners, the Luxembourg-headquartered private equity firm, announced the completion of its acquisition of RiverStone Europe from Fairfax Financial Holdings and OMERS, the pension plan for Ontario’s municipal employees.

The purchase price of the acquisition is approximately $700m. Fairfax also will be entitled to receive up to $235.7m, post-closing, under a contingent value instrument.

The RiverStone Europe Group will now operate under the name RiverStone International.

RiverStone International is one of the largest global consolidators of non-life, run-off insurance books, with a leading position in the UK and Lloyd’s markets and over 20 years of experience helping insurers release capital, streamline their operations and reduce volatility. Since 2010 the company has completed 22 acquisitions of legacy non-life books from blue-chip insurers and today manages around $4bn of insurance reserves.

RiverStone International also announced the appointment of Preben Prebensen as independent non-executive chair to the group’s board. Prebensen has over 40 years’ experience in the financial services and insurance sectors, including 11 years as CEO of Close Brothers Group plc, the FTSE 250 merchant bank. He was also formerly the chief investment officer and a member of the group executive committee at Catlin Group, the international non-life insurer, and CEO at Wellington Underwriting, the specialist insurer.

Nick Packer also will join as an independent non-executive director to the group’s board. Packer is one of the co-founders of Enstar, the leading non-life run-off specialist, and subsequently served as chief operating officer. He brings years of industry experience that will help to cement RiverStone International’s leading position within the global run-off insurance market.

“We are delighted to partner with CVC in this next chapter of our development, and look forward to pursuing our growth and development plans with the benefit of their extensive industry experience, global reach and long-term capital,” commented Luke Tanzer, chief executive officer of RiverStone International.

“We have continued to see strong growth and activity in the run-off insurance markets this year and are excited about our future plans. We thank Fairfax and OMERS for their fantastic support over the past years in helping us become an industry leader. We are also delighted to welcome Preben and Nick to our group. They bring a wealth of experience and will be central to achieving our growth ambitions as a focused independent company,” he continued.

Source: Insurance Journal

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