Cinven Explained

Cinven Limited
Type:	Private company
Key People:	Stuart McAlpine, Managing Partner
Location:	London, United Kingdom

Cinven Limited is a global private equity firm founded in 1977, with offices in nine international locations in Guernsey, London, New York, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan, Luxembourg, Madrid, and Hong Kong that acquires Europe and United States based corporations, and emerging market firms that fit with their core businesses, and necessitate a minimum equity investment of €100 million or more.^[1] As of 2023, it has €39 billion in assets under management.

Cinven's funding base originally came solely from three pension funds in the United Kingdom (British Coal, the Railway Industry and Barclays Bank) who remain as important investors.^[2] Cinven has been reported to originally stand for Coal Investment Nominees' for Venture Capital.^[3]

Cinven invests in six sectors on an international basis: Business Services; Technology, Media and Telecommunications; Financial Services; Industrials; Healthcare; and Consumer.

In July 2021, the firm was fined £43m by the UK Competition and Markets Authority for its part in a generic drug pricefixing scandal, which had resulted in the National Health Service being overcharged by "hundreds of millions of pounds" over several years.^[4]

In January 2024, Cinven raised $14.5 billion for its eighth private equity fund.^[5]

Investments

Cinven is a private equity firm based in London. Some of the recent acquisitions include:

• Avio – In August 2006, Cinven purchased Avio from Carlyle and Finmeccanica for an enterprise value of $2.6 billion.
• Spire Healthcare (previously BUPA Hospitals) – In June 2007, BUPA announced that it had agreed to sell its hospitals business, comprising 25 hospitals, to Cinven for $1.44 billion ($2.8 billion/$2.13 billion).^[6] Spire has since acquired the Classics Hospital Group for GBP 145 million, as well as a single site hospital in Gerrards Cross, England.
• Gondola Holdings – acquired in June 2007 for $1.36 billion, Gondola is the market leader in the casual dining sector in the United Kingdom, with brands such as PizzaExpress, ASK, Zizzi and BYRON.^[7]
• SLV – acquired in April 2011, SLV is a provider of residential and technical lighting products
• Partnership Assurance – acquired in 2008^[8]
• Sebia – acquired in June 2010
• CPA Global – acquired in March 2012
• AMCo – Created from Amdipharm and Mercury Pharma bought in 2012, merged, built up and sold to Canada's Concordia Healthcare in September 2015 for $3.4 billion in cash and shares.^[9]
• CeramTec Group – acquired in June 2013^[10]
• Host Europe Group – acquired in July 2013, Cinven agreed to purchase this web hosting firm for around $666 million.^[11]
• Medpace – In February 2014, Cinven agreed to acquire the pharmaceutical contract research organisation from CCMP Capital for around $900 million.^[12]
• Northgate Public Services – In December 2014, Cinven agreed to acquire the public services division of Northgate Information Solutions for an undisclosed amount.^[13]
• UFINET – In 2014, Cinven bought the telecommunications business of Gas Natural Fenosa for more than 500 million US dollars.
• Premium Credit – In January 2015, Cinven acquired Premium Credit, the United Kingdom's biggest premium financing company.^[14]
• Labco – In May 2015, Cinven agreed to acquire this operator of medical diagnostics laboratories for €1.2 billion.^[15]
• Synlab Group acquired in June 2015 for €1.7 to 1.8 billion.^[16]
• Kurt Geiger – In December 2015, Cinven acquired United Kingdom based fashion retailer Kurt Geiger from Sycamore Partners for £245 million.^[17]
• Hotelbeds - In September 2016, Cinven and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) acquired the business-to-business accommodation wholesaler for a purchase price of around 1.3 billion euros.^[18]
• Stada Arzneimittel – In August 2017, Cinven acquired German company Stada Arzneimittel.^[19]
• One.Com – In December 2018, Cinven acquired, from Accel-KKR, one of the Europe's biggest hosting providers with 1,5M customers.^{[20] [21]}
• RTB House – In January 2019, Cinven invested in Polish company RTB House.^[22]
• Drake Software – In February 2021, Cinven announced its investment in this provider of professional tax preparation software.^[23]
• True Potential -- In September 2021, it was announced that Cinven were acquiring a majority stake in the UK based wealth management company True Potential. The deal valued True Potential at a figure between £1.6 billion and £2 billion. ^[24] Cinven completed the acquisition of the company in February 2022.^[25]
• TaxAct – In November 2022, Cinven agreed to acquire American online DIY tax software provider from Blucora, Inc. for about $720 million. It announced that it would combine TaxAct's business with Drake Software under a single holding company.^{[26] [27]}

Notes and References

1. http://www.cinven.com/aboutus/default.aspx Cinven, About us, Cinven website, retrieved April 2, 2016
2. http://www.cinven.com/pr_article.asp?PageID=17&NewsID=73&CompanyID=25 The fourth Cinven fund completes fundraising at $6.5 billion
3. http://www.efinancialnews.com/assetmanagement/pensionfunds/content/2451718306/printerfriendly Cinven looks to rejoin industry's top league
4. Web site: Drug companies fined £260m for "colluding to overcharge the NHS". 15 July 2021.
5. News: Gopinath . Swetha . Cinven Raises $14.5 Billion for UK Buyout Firm's Eighth Fund . Bloomberg News . 22 January 2024 . 9 January 2024.
6. http://www.bupa.co.uk/about/html/pr/180607_hospitals_sale.html BUPA agrees hospitals sale
7. Web site: byronhamburgers.com . 19 May 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100513041248/http://www.byronhamburgers.com/story/ . 13 May 2010 . dead .
8. Web site: Cinven to kick-start £750m Partnership Assurance sale. The Telegraph. 17 September 2011. 13 September 2013.
9. http://www.privateequitywire.co.uk/2015/09/08/229796/cinven-sell-amco-concordia-healthcare-corp Cinven to sell AMCo to Concordia Healthcare Corp, Private Equity Wire, St Helier Jersey, 8 September 2015
10. https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/cinven-to-buy-ceramtec-a-ceramics-maker-for-2-billion/ The New York Times Dealbook: Cinven to Buy CeramTec for Billion. By Mark Scott, 16 June 2013
11. Web site: Deals of the day – mergers and acquisitions . Reuters. 19 July 2013.
12. News: Cinven to acquire Medpace in $900 million deal. Reuters. 23 February 2014. 24 February 2014 .
13. News: Northgate Information Solutions sells Public Services division to Cinven. 22 December 2014. Yahoo! Finance. 22 December 2014 .
14. http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-premiumcredit-m-a-cinven-idUKKBN0KM1D020150113 Cinven strikes a £460m deal for Premium Credit
15. News: Berry. Freya. Buyout group Cinven to buy France's Labco for $1.3 bln. Reuters. 28 May 2015.
16. News: Cinven buys lab chain Synlab for $1.9–2.0 billion. 29 October 2016. Reuters. 25 June 2015.
17. Web site: Footwear retailer Kurt Geiger acquired by Cinven from Sycamore Partners . Grandhi, K . International Business Times . 14 December 2015 . 21 June 2016.
18. News: TUI Group to Sell Hotelbeds Group for $1.3 Billion. Bray. Chad. 28 April 2016. The New York Times. 10 July 2018.
19. http://www.manager-magazin.de/unternehmen/artikel/stada-bain-capital-und-cinven-gelingt-kauf-a-1163470.html Bain Capital und Cinven gelingt Kauf von Stada (German)
20. Web site: Lunden . Ingrid . 20 December 2018 . Cinven acquires One.com, one of Europe's biggest hosting providers with 1.5M customers . 1 July 2023 . . en-US.
21. . 2 January 2019 . Cinven to acquire Accel-KKR portfolio company One.com . Global Banking News . Normans Media . Bath, United Kingdom . 1 July 2023 . Gale General OneFile (Wikipedia Library).
22. Web site: Shields . Ronan . January 14, 2019 . Cinven Invests in Ad-Tech Outfit RTB House to Further U.S. Growth . 2022-11-21 . en-US.
23. Web site: StackPath. 2021-04-07. www.cpapracticeadvisor.com.
24. Web site: Cinven to snap up £2bn wealth management platform True Potential . 2023-11-20 . Sky News . en.
25. Web site: Vallely . Lois . 2022-02-08 . True Potential completes sale of stake to private equity firm Cinven . 2023-11-20 . Money Marketing . en-GB.
26. Web site: Lawler . Ryan . 1 November 2022 . Cinven acquires TaxAct for $720M . . subscription.
27. Web site: Walters . Natalie . 1 November 2022 . Dallas' Blucora to sell its TaxAct business for $720 million following proxy fight . The Dallas Morning News.