Sovereign Capital, the UK private equity Buy & Build specialist, is pleased to announce that portfolio company Arachas Corporate Brokers (“Arachas”), a leading insurance brokerage operating in Ireland, has acquired Kidd Insurances (“Kidd”). This is the second acquisition Arachas has made since Sovereign backed the management buy-out of the business earlier this year and makes the group the third largest commercial insurance broker in Ireland. Sovereign will continue to work with the management team to further grow and develop the business through a strategy of Buy & Build. The transaction is subject to approval from the Central Bank of Ireland.

Kidd Insurances is one of Ireland’s longest established Insurance brokers serving both the retail customer and broker community with its specialist affinity insurance product range. The transaction closely follows Arachas’ acquisition of Capital Cover Group. The combined group will employ approaching 230 staff across its offices in Dublin, Cork and Waterford.

Neil Cox, Partner, Sovereign Capital commented: “We are delighted to have supported Arachas’ acquisition of Kidd which is a high quality, long established operator.  The transaction both develops the Group’s product offering and further consolidates its position in the Irish market. We look forward to working with the management team to further expand the Group.”

Donal Cronin, CEO of Arachas said: “We are delighted to have acquired Kidd. They mirror our philosophy of providing the very best in customer service and focus on niche Insurance solutions with their unique product range. In partnership with Sovereign, we will continue to develop the business through strong organic growth and further acquisitions of like-minded brokers.”

Other portfolio investments held by Sovereign in the financial services and insurance sectors include Kindertons, the nationwide provider of outsourced accident management services for motor insurers and insurance brokers. Since being backed by Sovereign, Kindertons’ revenue has tripled to over £150m.

Ascent is the leading cyber insurance and specialty focused Managing General Agent in the Lloyds of London market. Unigestion made the investment alongside Preservation Capital Partners, the financial services focused private equity firm with a broad network and extensive experience in the insurance sector. The investment, which is subject to regulatory approval, will allow Ascent to further strengthen its presence in the fast growing cyber insurance market and support its ambition to enter complementary product lines through acquisitions.

This latest deal comes just after Unigestion invested in TeamSport, the UK’s largest indoor go-karting operator, together with Duke Street, in October of this year. TeamSport has achieved impressive growth in recent years, through a combination of like-for-like sales improvements, new site openings and enhanced performance from acquired tracks, underpinned by the company’s superior customer experience. Unigestion will benefit from Duke Street’s experience with similar roll-outs in the UK leisure sector (including, amongst others, Wagamama). Under Duke Street and Unigestion’s ownership, TeamSport will continue to strengthen its position in the fragmented UK market, but also look to expand in continental Europe.

Finally, earlier this year Unigestion completed an investment in Eduko, a nursery school platform seeking to consolidate the UK’s early years education space. Together with its operating partner, Playground Nurseries, Unigestion is supporting management in its vision to offer a high quality educational experience focused on the millennial parent.

UDO 2015 is Unigestion’s EUR 255 million direct private equity fund, which is backed by established limited partners in the UK, continental Europe and Asia. In addition, certain limited partners have the ability to provide significant additional capital to UDO portfolio companies.

Federico Schiffrin, Partner at Unigestion based in New York, commented:

“Our latest investments validate our vision of finding unique opportunities in the small and middle markets sourced by investors locally in Europe, the US and Asia, and partnering with leading specialist teams with deep knowledge and networks in their respective markets.”

Pieter-Jan Frederix, Principal at Unigestion based in London, commented:

“Although operating in different industries, the fund’s recent investments share the same characteristics as other companies in the UDO portfolio. We always look to invest in businesses that benefit from long term trends, offer a product or service with proven appeal and provide downside protection, either through the cash flow profile of the company, the defensive nature of the end market, or the type of investment security. As the sole institutional co-underwriter in each of these transactions, we worked closely together with our investment partners and management teams throughout the process and we look forward to continuing these relationships as the companies enter their next stage of growth and development.”

-ENDS-

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Lynn Pattinson
Head of Corporate Communication, Media & Branding
lpattinson@unigestion.com
Tel: +41 (0) 22 704 44 57

Alex Hogan
Communication Manager
ahogan@unigestion.com
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7529 5243
Mob: +44 (0)7469 890 614

Read more about Unigestion

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Paris, 17 May 2017 – Apax Partners MidMarket announced today that it has entered into exclusive negotiations with TA Associates for the Apax funds to become the new principal shareholder of CIPRÉS Assurances, a key player in France in the area of supplemental insurance protection for small- and medium-size companies and self-employed persons.

Founded in 2000, CIPRÉS Assurances is a wholesale broker for life, disability and health insurance, which designs, underwrites and manages health and social security insurance programs for self-employed workers, managers and employees of SMEs. CIPRÉS offers a full range of products and services to secure their incomes, preserve their estates, protect their health and provide protection against accidents and loss of life. The company has a distribution network of more than 4,000 independent brokers throughout France. It collected premiums of €207million in 2016.

The transaction is expected to be completed in July 2017. It will result in the exit of TA Associates, the principal shareholder since September 2014, and will allow the management team to increase its stake in the company. The Chairman of the Executive Board Laurent Ouazana, the Managing Director Sylvie Langlois and their team aim to continue to grow the business.

With the support of Apax Partners, an expert in the financial services sector, they intend to accelerate the growth of the company through organic growth and acquisitions, while capitalising on long-term relationships that the company has established with French insurers, as well as those that exist between French entrepreneurs and its partner brokers.

The management team and Apax Partners share the ambition to make CIPRÉS Assurances the leading insurance firm for French entrepreneurs.

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Forthcoming events

5 September 2017 (post-trading) NAV as of 30 June 2017 and first-half results

8 November 2017 (post-trading) NAV as of 30 September 2017

About Altamir

Altamir is a listed private equity company (Euronext Paris-B, ticker: LTA) founded in 1995 and with almost €800m in assets under management. Its objective is to provide shareholders with long term capital appreciation and regular dividends by investing in a diversified portfolio of private equity investments.

Altamir’s investment policy is to invest via and with the funds managed or advised by Apax Partners France and Apax Partners LLP, two leading private equity firms that take majority or lead positions in buyouts and growth capital transactions and seek ambitious value creation objectives.

In this way, Altamir provides access to a diversified portfolio of fast-growing companies across Apax’s sectors of specialisation (TMT, Retail & Consumer, Healthcare, Business & Financial Services) and in complementary market segments (mid-sized companies in French-speaking European countries and larger companies across Europe, North America and key emerging markets).

Altamir derives certain tax benefits from its status as an SCR (“Société de Capital Risque”). As such, Altamir is exempt from corporate tax and the company’s investors may benefit from tax exemptions, subject to specific holding-period and dividend-reinvestment conditions.

For more information: www.altamir.fr