CVC Capital Partners has completed its acquisition of RiverStone Europe from Canadian companies Fairfax Financial Holdings and OMERS.
Following the transaction, the RiverStone Europe Group will operate under the name RiverStone International.
One of the largest global consolidators of non-life, run-off insurance books, RiverStone International has a major presence in both the UK and Lloyd’s markets. The firm has over 20 years of experience helping insurers release capital, streamline their operations and reduce volatility.
According to a release, RiverStone International has completed 22 acquisitions of legacy non-life book from blue-chip insurers since 2010. It currently manages about US$4 billion of insurance reserves.
“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,” said RiverStone International CEO Luke Tanzer. “We have continued to see strong growth and activity in the run-off insurance markets this year and are excited about our future plans.”
Coinciding with CVC’s acquisition, RiverStone International has appointed Preben Prebensen as independent non-executive chair to the group board. Prebensen has over 40 years of experience in the financial services and insurance sectors, including 11 years as the chief executive of Close Brothers Group. He also previously served as the chief investment officer and member of the group executive committee at Catlin Group, as well as the CEO of Wellington Underwriting.
RiverStone also tapped Nick Packer to serve as an independent non-executive director to the group board. Packer is one of the co-founders of Enstar, and was previously the company’s chief operating officer.
The plan to sell RiverStone Europe was first announced by Fairfax late last year. The announcement came just a month after Fairfax had also revealed that it would be offloading its stake in high-net-worth insurance provider Vault.
