Blackfin Capital Partners, a Paris, France-based financial services sector specialist, announced the final close of BlackFin Financial Services Fund IV at €1.8 Billion.
Driven by demand from institutional investors in Europe (45%), the Americas (45%) and Asia (10%), the new fund size exceeded an initial €1.5 Billion target, and provided the firm with 80% more capital to deploy than from the predecessor €985M Fund III.
The fundraising received support from both existing investors, with a re-up rate of 100% and from 25 new relationships. Its global base of LPs includes public pension Funds, sovereigns, Fund of Funds, insurance and asset managers, endowments and Family Offices.
Fund IV will continue BlackFin’s strategy of investing across asset-light financial services subsegments. Insurance brokerage and processing platforms, wealth-management and financial advisory, asset management, payments, and financial software or processing providers benefit from significant tailwinds, such as increasing demand from financial consumers for advice, new technologies and changing regulation. The strategy focuses on primary transactions, where BlackFin acts as the first financial sponsor and can add substantial operational value. Deals are typically off-market and proprietary, including highly complex carve-out of business units from large financial institutions.
The vehicle has already made its first investments into OpGroen, a carve-out of Aon Netherlands’ personal lines insurance business, and soon into IBS Capital Allies, an independent wealth manager with €5 Billion assets under management.
Led by President & Founding Partner Laurent Bouyoux, BlackFin Capital Partners is an independent private equity firm focusing on Financial Services companies in Europe. It spans across Europe with offices in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London and a team of 50 investment professionals. The close of Fund IV brings its total assets under management to €4 Billion across its complementary buyout and fintech strategies, cementing the firm’s leadership in financial services private investments in Europe.
The firm has completed 110 transactions since its inception in 2009.
FinSMEs
17/10/2024