Record amount: BlackFin Capital Partners raises € 1.8 billion

Paris (Fr) ‑Black­Fin Capi­tal Part­ners, the buyout fund specia­li­zing in finan­cial services, announ­ces the final closing of its €1.8 billion Black­Fin Finan­cial Services Fund IV. The new fund bene­fits from strong demand from insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors in Europe (45%), the US (45%) and Asia (10%) and signi­fi­cantly exceeds its initial target of €1.5 billion. The funds raised are 80% higher than those of the most recently laun­ched Black­Fin Finan­cial Services Fund III. The tran­sac­tion is still subject to the appr­oval of the Dutch Central Bank and the Dutch Finan­cial Markets Autho­rity. This means that the private equity company has an 80% higher invest­ment volume in this fund than in its prede­ces­sor, Black­Fin Finan­cial Services Fund III, which closed at EUR 985 million. The fund was backed by exis­ting Black­Fin inves­tors with a 100% re-inves­t­­ment from exis­ting inves­tors and 25 new inves­tors. Black­Fin has a global base of inves­tors with very diverse profiles, inclu­ding pension funds, sove­reign wealth funds, funds of funds, insu­rance compa­nies and family offices. The closing of Fund IV brings BlackFin’s total assets under manage­ment for its comple­men­tary buyout and FinTech stra­te­gies to €4 billion. This conso­li­da­tes BlackFin’s posi­tion as Europe’s leading private equity inves­tor in the finan­cial services sector. With over 110 tran­sac­tions since its incep­tion in 2009, Black­Fin is by far the most active inves­tor in this sector in Europe. Fund IV will conti­nue BlackFin’s diffe­ren­tia­ted invest­ment policy in asset-light segments. Brokerage and insu­rance plat­forms, inde­pen­dent asset mana­gers, asset mana­gers, payment play­ers and provi­ders of finan­cial or back-office soft­ware bene­fit from a parti­cu­larly favorable envi­ron­ment. This takes account of consu­mers’ incre­asing need for advice on finan­cial products, the deve­lo­p­ment of new tech­no­lo­gies and chan­ging regu­la­tion. Black­Fin focu­ses on primary tran­sac­tions where the company acts as a key finan­cial spon­sor and provi­des unique opera­tio­nal support. These off-market tran­sac­tions are one of BlackFin’s parti­cu­lar areas of exper­tise, as is the execu­tion of very complex carve-outs of large finan­cial institutions. 

Fund IV has alre­ady made two investments

The new fund has alre­ady made initial invest­ments in OpGroen, a carve-out of Aon Nether­lands’ private insu­rance busi­ness, and will soon invest in IBS Capi­tal Allies, a leading inde­pen­dent asset mana­ger with €5 billion in assets under manage­ment. Since the closing of Fund III in 2019, Black­Fin has inves­ted heavily in its plat­form. New offices have been estab­lished in London and Amster­dam to expand BlackFin’s Euro­pean presence. It curr­ently employs 50 people, inclu­ding nine part­ners, in five offices. In 2022, the company also reached the closing of its second venture capi­tal fund speci­fi­cally focu­sed on FinTech. Black­Fin Tech II has €390 million in capi­tal, making it the largest FinTech-focu­­sed B2B fund in Europe. Laurent Bouy­oux, Presi­dent and Foun­ding Part­ner of Black­Fin, said: “We foun­ded Black­Fin in 2009 with the convic­tion that the trans­for­ma­tion of the Euro­pean finan­cial sector towards a more compe­ti­tive envi­ron­ment was over­due and that inde­pen­dent compa­nies were compe­ting directly with incumb­ents or beco­ming their service provi­ders. 15 years later, our invest­ment thesis has fully mate­ria­li­zed with one of the best track records in Europe and a global base of high cali­ber inves­tors. We are proud to have taken this decisive step for our inves­tors and thank them for their loyal and growing support. With Fund IV, we will conti­nue to pursue the stra­tegy that has made our prede­ces­sor funds so successful.” Black­Fin Capi­tal worked with Rede Part­ners on the inter­na­tio­nal fund­rai­sing, Jasmin Capi­tal on the insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors in France and Will­kie Farr & Gallag­her LLP on the legal and regu­la­tory aspects.

About Black­Fin Capi­tal Partners

Foun­ded in 2009, Black­Fin Capi­tal Part­ners is an inde­pen­dent private equity firm specia­li­zing in finan­cial services in Europe. Black­Fin is owned and mana­ged by its nine part­ners, who have worked toge­ther for many years as execu­ti­ves, mana­gers and inves­tors in the Euro­pean finan­cial indus­try. The team consists of a total of 50 invest­ment profes­sio­nals in offices in Paris, Brussels, Amster­dam, Frank­furt and London. Backed by leading insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors in Europe, North America and Asia, Black­Fin Capi­tal Part­ners has over €4 billion under manage­ment through its venture capi­tal and buyout funds. www.blackfin.com/