CVC Capital Partners is an American private equity firm with approximately
US$80 billion in secured commitments across European and Asian private
equity, credit and growth funds. In total, the CVC Group manages over US$52
billion of assets. Since 1981, CVC has completed over 300 investments across a
wide range of industries and countries. CVC was founded in 1981 and today has a
network of over 20 offices throughout Europe, Asia and the United States.
History = Founding=
American banking giant, Citicorp, had established an investment arm in 1968 to
focus on venture capital investments. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Citicorp
Venture Capital, at that time under the leadership of chairman William T.
Comfort, continued to invest in early stage businesses but also expanded into
the emerging leveraged buyout business. CVC Capital Partners was originally
founded in 1981 as the European arm of Citicorp Venture Capital.
Among Citicorp Venture Capital's early managing directors in Europe were John
Botts, Otto Van der Wyck, Jon Moulton and Frank Neale. Of the group's original
European leadership, most would leave by the late 1980s. Botts left in 1987 to
found his own boutique investment banking firm, Botts & Company. Moulton
left the bank to co-found Schroder Ventures in 1985. The following year,
Van der Wyck left to co-found European private equity firm BC Partners in 1986
and today serves as chairman of AlpInvest and a senior advisor to Coller
Capital. Neale also departed to join Phildrew Ventures, which subsequently
became UBS Capital and later IRRfc. = Spinout from Citicorp and the 1990s=
By the early 1990s, Michael Smith, who joined Citicorp in 1982, was leading
Citicorp Venture Capital in Europe along with other managing directors Steven
Koltes, Hardy McLain, Donald Mackenzie, Iain Parham, and Rolly Van Rappard. In
1993, Smith and the senior investment professionals of Citicorp Venture
Capital negotiated a spinout from Citibank to form an independent private
equity firm, CVC Capital Partners. In 2006, the US arm of Citigroup Venture
Capital also spun out of the bank to form a new firm, known as Court Square
Capital Partners. CVC operated offices in London, Paris and Frankfurt.
Following the spinout, CVC raised its first investment fund with $300 million
of commitments, half coming from Citicorp and the rest from
high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors. Now
independent, CVC also completed its transition from venture capital
investments to leveraged buyouts and investments in mature businesses. CVC
would follow up with its second fund in 1996, its first fully independent of
Citibank, with $840 million of capital commitments.
= Since 2000= By 2000, CVC was one of the largest and
best known private equity firms in Europe. In 2001, CVC completed
fundraising for its third investment fund, which was the largest private
equity fund raised in Europe at the time, just ahead of funds raised by
other leading firms, Apax Partners and BC Partners Also, around the same time,
CVC expanded into Asia with a $750 million fund focusing exclusively on
investments in Asian companies. In 2007, CVC expanded to the U.S.,
opening an office in New York City, headed by Christopher Stadler and
overseen by Rolly van Rappard. = Since 2010=
In June 2015, CVC acquired the German perfume retailer Douglas AG for an
disclosed fee from US private equity firm Advent International.
In September 2015, CVC opened an office in Warsaw.
In November 2015, CVC and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board both
acquired American pet supplier Petco for a fee of around $4.6 billion.
Investment funds Investments
= Europe and the United States= The current European and US portfolio of
companies includes: Cerved: Italian credit data and business
intelligence company; Pilot Travel Centers: truck stop chain
in the United States; Formula One Group: motor sport
management business; Samsonite: luggage company;
RAC: automotive rescue service provider in the UK;
Merlin Entertainments: theme park operator, jointly controlled with
KIRKBI/Blackstone Group ParmarCorp: leading Private Equity
Europe and U.S all sectors; Cortefiel: apparel retailers in Spain;
Seat Pagine Gialle: directories business in Italy;
Leslie's Pool Supplies: U.S. retailer of swimming pool supplies;
BPost: Belgian postal services operator; Univar: chemical distribution company in
the US and Europe; R: a Spanish cable company based in
Galicia, offering quadruple play services.
Skrill: Online payments and money transfer
Fraikin: Truck Leasing PKP Energetyka: Electrical company on
the rails Petco Holdings Inc.: Major pet supplies
retail chain. It formerly included:
StarBev: Prague-based brewery, their product line includes the Staropramen
Czech lager, as well as international brands brewed and distributed under
license. In 2012, StarBev was sold to Molson Coors, which also resulted in a
full withdrawal of CVC Capital Partners from Central and Eastern Europe.
= Asia-Pacific= The current Asia Pacific portfolio
includes: Zhuhai Zhongfu: Chinese PET bottler;
Nien Made: window shutter manufacturer, based in Taiwan;
Plantation Timber Products: a wood fibreboards producer in China;
Nine Entertainment Co.: Australian media group;
DCA Group: diagnostic imaging center operator in Australia;
Amtek: Singaporean precision metal components company;
GS Paper and Packaging: Malaysian paper and packaging company;
Skylark: restaurant operator in Japan; Minit Asia Pacific: shoe repair and key
cutting provider in Japan; Shinwa Co.: system scaffolding supplier
in Japan Matahari: Indonesian department store
chain I-Med Network: Australian radiology
company Hong Kong Broadband Network: Hong Kong
broadband operator, acquired from City Telecom
SPi Global: A Philippines-based BPO company
References External links
CVC Capital Partners