CVC acquires leading Dutch infrastructure manager DIF

Amster­dam — CVC, a leading global private markets mana­ger focu­sed on private equity, secon­da­ries and lever­a­ged finance, has acqui­red a majo­rity stake in DIF Capi­tal Part­ners (“DIF”), a leading infra­struc­ture mana­ger. The merger will create a global private markets mana­ger with seven comple­men­tary stra­te­gies and total assets under manage­ment of appro­xi­m­ately EUR 177 billion*.

This stra­te­gic acqui­si­tion gives CVC access to a leading infra­struc­ture plat­form that ideally comple­ments the company’s exis­ting private equity, secon­da­ries and credit stra­te­gies. The acqui­si­tion also acce­le­ra­tes DIF’s growth. The company will conti­nue to operate under the DIF brand and main­tain its inde­pen­dence in terms of busi­ness acti­vi­ties and invest­ment decisions.

Head­quar­te­red in Amster­dam, DIF mana­ges EUR 16 billion in assets, employs more than 225 people in 11 offices and pursues two distinct invest­ment stra­te­gies: core/­­build-to-core funds and core-plus funds. Foun­ded in 2005, the company has estab­lished itself as a leading provi­der of mid-sized infra­struc­ture invest­ments with a focus on Europe, North America and Austra­lia. By joining forces with CVC, DIF will acce­le­rate its growth and further expand its invest­ment capa­bi­li­ties, geogra­phic reach and global inves­tor base. DIF will conti­nue to be led by its current CEO and part­ners and will operate under the DIF brand.

Commen­ting on the tran­sac­tion, Rolly van Rappard, Chair­man and Co-Foun­­der of CVC, said: “Expan­ding into the infra­struc­ture sector is a logi­cal next step for us, as we are convin­ced of the long-term growth trends in this area and it comple­ments our exis­ting stra­te­gies. We have known the DIF team for many years and are exci­ted to have one of the world’s leading pure-play infra­struc­ture manage­ment compa­nies with an impres­sive track record of success and growth on our side going forward.”

Rob Lucas, Mana­ging Part­ner at CVC (Photo © cvc), added: “We are looking forward to working with DIF, a leading global infra­struc­ture mana­ger. DIF’s busi­ness model and culture are a great fit with our local foot­print and their new infra­struc­ture plat­form will be a great comple­ment to our leading private equity, secon­da­ries and credit stra­te­gies. We welcome Wim, the DIF part­ners and the entire DIF team to the CVC Group and look forward to working toge­ther to become a leading global infra­struc­ture manager.”

Wim Blaasse, CEO and Mana­ging Part­ner DIF, said: “The merger with CVC is a natu­ral step in the deve­lo­p­ment of our company. Toge­ther with my part­ners, I look forward to leading DIF into the next phase of growth. We have known the CVC team for a long time and have been impres­sed with what they have built. That is why we are exci­ted to become part of the CVC Group. With this tran­sac­tion, we bene­fit from CVC’s global plat­form, scale and excel­lent inves­tor connec­tions. At the same time, we can fully focus on important infra­struc­ture areas such as the energy tran­si­tion and digi­ta­liza­tion without losing our inde­pen­dence in invest­ment decisions.”

The tran­sac­tion is subject to regu­la­tory and other appr­ovals and is expec­ted to close in the fourth quar­ter of 2023 or the first quar­ter of 2024. The Dutch works coun­cil of DIF has been infor­med about the tran­sac­tion and has appro­ved it.

Advi­sors to CVC: inter alia JPMorgan. 

Advi­sors to DIF: advi­sed by Morgan Stan­ley & Co Plc, Loyens & Loeff, PwC and De Brauw, among others.