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IFGL eyes more acquisitions after private equity backer switch

Another PE firm is set to become the biggest investor in RL360’s parent company

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Cinven will succeed Vitruvian Partners as the majority investor in Isle of Man-headquartered International Financial Group Limited (IFGL).

The deal is subject to regulatory approvals. No financial details were disclosed.

Vitruvian paid £126m ($169m, €151m) to Royal London when it acquired RL360 in 2012.

Growth plans

IFGL is the parent company behind RL360, RL360 Services and Ardan International. It completed the acquisition of Friends Provident International in July 2020, a deal that took longer than was originally expected.

But it doesn’t seem to have diminished IFGL’s acquisition ambitions.

Group chief executive David Kneeshaw described the Cinven announcement as “a very significant day for IFGL”, adding that the change will “accelerate the group’s ambitious plans for growth”.

“Cinven share our vision for the future and their financial backing means we will be ideally placed to expand significantly through both organic and new market growth and through further mergers and acquisition activity.”

No further details were provided at this stage.

Buy-and-build

Cinven most recently featured in International Adviser when it bought a majority stake in Newcastle-based advisory platform True Potential. It also made a bid for international fund and corporate administator Sanne Group last year, which it dropped in September.

Luigi Sbrozzi, partner at Cinven, said: “IFGL is an established insurer with a strong market position. It has a large back book, which sits alongside an established new business franchise that is well diversified geographically.

“Cinven knows the market well through its previous life insurance investments, including Guardian in the UK and Viridium in Germany, and has a strong track record of working with companies in the sector to achieve strong growth, in particular, through buy-and-build as well as further product development and internationalisation.”

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