BlackFin Capital Partners, Europe’s leading financial services sector specialist, is delighted to announce the final close of BlackFin Financial Services Fund IV at €1.8 billion. Driven by strong demand from institutional investors in Europe (45%), the Americas (45%) and Asia (10%), the new fund size significantly exceeds an initial €1.5 billion target, and provides the firm with 80% more capital to deploy than from the predecessor €985m Fund III. The fundraising attracted support from both existing investors, with a re-up rate of 100% and from 25 new relationships. BlackFin’s global base of LPs is well diversified and includes Public Pension Funds, Sovereigns, Fund of Funds, Insurance & Asset Managers, Endowments and Family Offices.
The close of Fund IV brings BlackFin’s total assets under management to €4 billion across its complementary buyout and fintech strategies, cementing the firm’s leadership in financial services private investments in Europe. With more than a 110 transactions since its inception in 2009, BlackFin is by far the most active investor in this space in Europe.
Fund IV will continue BlackFin’s highly successful strategy of investing across asset-light financial services subsegments. Insurance brokerage and processing platforms, wealth-management and financial advisory, asset management, payments, and financial software or processing providers benefit from significant tailwinds, such as increasing demand from financial consumers for advice, new technologies and changing regulation. The strategy focuses on primary transactions, where BlackFin acts as the first financial sponsor and can add substantial operational value. Deals are typically off-market and proprietary, including highly complex carve-out of business units from large financial institutions.
The new Fund has already made its first investments into OpGroen, a carve-out of Aon Netherlands’ personal lines insurance business, and soon into IBS Capital Allies, a leading independent wealth manager with €5 billion assets under management1.
Since raising Fund III, BlackFin has invested substantially into its platform. New offices in London and Amsterdam have been opened to expand BlackFin’s multi-local European footprint. The BlackFin team has grown to 50 professionals, including nine partners, across five offices. In 2022, the firm also closed its second FinTech VC fund, BlackFin Tech II, at €390 million, representing the largest dedicated B2B FinTech fund in Europe.
Commenting on the final close, BlackFin’s President & Founding Partner Laurent Bouyoux said: “BlackFin began in 2009 with the simple idea that the European Financial sector was long overdue for a transformation into a more competitive landscape. We took the position that asset-light independent firms would rise up to compete against incumbents or become their service providers. 15 years later, our investment thesis is fully substantiated by one of the strongest track records in Europe and a global base of high quality investors. We are proud to have delivered for our investors and thank them for their constant and ever-increasing support. With Fund IV, we will continue to deliver more of the same to them.”
Rede Partners acted as global fundraising advisor, Jasmin Capital as local fundraising agent in France and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP as legal counsel.
Read the orginal article: https://ffnews.com/newsarticle/funding/blackfin-capital-partners-closes-europes-largest-ever-buyout-fund-dedicated-to-asset-light-financial-services-at-e1-8-billion/
