Buyout Firm CVC Eyes US Private Credit in Expansion Drive

CVC Capital Partners Plc has identified private credit in the US as an area for potential acquisitions, according to Chief Executive Officer Rob Lucas.

There are “huge opportunities” for CVC in private wealth and insurance business, Lucas said during a media call on Thursday after the company posted its full-year earnings .

“We have consistently said that if the right opportunity to build our business inorganically, arises, then we are very open to that and we will look carefully at those opportunities,” Lucas said. “We have in the past identified US private credit as as one of those areas.”

Bloomberg News reported this week that CVC is interested in acquiring Fortress Investment Corp. and has held talks with Fortress and majority owner, Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co., though discussions aren’t active at the moment. CVC had also expressed interest in a potential combination with HPS Investment Partners before BlackRock Inc. agreed to buy HPS in a $12 billion all-stock deal in December.

Insurance business is another focus of growth for CVC, which has raised more than €15 billion of capital from insurance clients over the past five years. Insurers are keen to tie up with private markets operators to help manage the assets on their balance sheets, according to Fred Watt, CVC’s chief financial officer.

“It’s something we look at,” Watt said. “We’re well placed to do that and we can see why insurance companies are interested in in that sort of arrangement.”

CVC made €1.33 billion in management fees last year, beating analyst estimates of €1.23 billion, its latest earnings showed. Its assets under management totaled €200 billion at the end of 2024.

The private equity firm said it has €40 billion of capital available to deploy across all its strategies. It expects “strong growth” in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2025.

Shares of CVC rose as much as 4.8% Thursday, the most since Dec. 12. The stock has fallen about 7% this year, giving the company a market value of around €21 billion.

Recent market volatility and geopolitical concerns have sapped dealmaking activity globally. Initial public offerings have slowed as well.

The private equity owners of Stada Arzneimittel AG have decided to push back the German drugmaker’s IPO until September, Bloomberg News reported this week. German regional lender Oldenburgische Landesbank AG has abandoned plans for an IPO and will instead be sold to a subsidiary of France’s Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale.

CVC, however, views volatility as an opportunity, according to Lucas. “We thrive in periods of change,” he said.

‘The last time, we saw something like this, I suppose would be in the market dislocations post the global financial crisis,” CVC’s Watt added. “I can think of many examples in those periods where we were one of the few buyers of assets. And we can see that happening as we speak.”

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