CVC Capital Partners completes RiverStone Europe acquisition

CVC has completed its purchase of Riverstone Europe from Canadian financial holding company Fairfax Financial and OMERS, the Ontario municipal employees pension fund. The sale, for $750 million, plus up to $235.7m post-closing under a contingent value instrument, follows approval of the deal from the European Commission in February.

One of the largest consolidators of non-life run-off insurance books worldwide, RiverStone International has completed 22 legacy acquisitions from blue-chip insurers since 2010. It currently manages around $4 billion of insurance reserves and has a leading position in the UK and Lloyd’s markets.

Luke Tanzer, who was previously managing director of RiverStone Europe, continues with the company as its chief executive officer.

He said: “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. We have continued to see strong growth and activity in the run-off insurance markets this year and are excited about our future plans.”

Tanzer also welcomed two new non-executive board members: Preben Prebensen as independent non-executive chair to the group board and Nick Packer as an independent non-executive director.

Prebensen is a former chief investment officer of Catlin Group and CEO at Wellington Underwriting. Packer was a co-founder of non-life run-off specialist Enstar and served as its chief operating officer.

Earlier this year, RiverStone Europe wrapped up the reinsurance-to-close transaction of the legacy liabilities of the 2018 and prior years of account of Syndicate 4000, managed by Hamilton Managing Agency Limited. The transaction transferred the legacy Pembroke business that remained with Liberty Mutual Group following Hamilton’s acquisition of Pembroke and Syndicate 4000 in 2019.