International private equity firm, Cinven, announces that it has reached an agreement to acquire Säkra, a leading insurance broker headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Financial details of the transaction are not disclosed. The acquisition of Säkra marks the fourth investment from Cinven’s inaugural Strategic Financials Fund (‘SFF’), which held its final closing in July 2022 with total capital committed of €1.5 billion.

Founded in 1990, Säkra is one of Sweden’s largest insurance intermediaries, providing life and non-life insurance products, as well as pension and wealth management services, to more than 35,000 SME clients and more than 115,000 individual customers. Säkra has more than 60 offices across Sweden and employs approximately 350 people.

Cinven believes Säkra is an attractive investment opportunity for the SFF based on:

  • The company’s high-quality, cash generative business model and attractive, recurring revenue base;
  • Säkra’s strong position in the insurance markets it serves, with strong brand equity and a long-standing client base;
  • Its proven track record of steady and consistent growth, delivering robust performance through the COVID-19 pandemic and prior economic downturns;
  • The opportunity to accelerate the company’s long-term growth profile through a combination of organic growth and incremental bolt-on M&A;
  • The resilient growth prospects of the underlying insurance market through economic cycles; and
  • Säkra’s strong management team, led by CEO, Eva Pantzar Waage, and deep bench of talent, with significant expertise across its specialist areas.

Luigi Sbrozzi, Partner and co-head of the SFF, said:

“Cinven is very pleased to be making this investment in Säkra. It is a highly attractive, resilient specialist insurance intermediary business with strong long-term growth opportunities across all of its segments and a history of consistent growth through various economic cycles. The investment is supported by a resilient underlying market in Sweden and is well-positioned to grow organically, with further upside through its demonstrated M&A trajectory. Säkra offers a high-quality scalable platform, with associated benefits for clients as the business develops and expands over the long-term. We look forward to working with Säkra’s CEO and her colleagues in further developing and growing the business.”

Eva Pantzar Waage, President and CEO at Säkra, added:

“We are delighted to be partnering with Cinven to deliver the next phase of Säkra’s growth. Säkra is a firm with a strong reputation, skilled employees and significant future growth opportunities, with scope to build on the company’s existing strengths through incremental, targeted strategic investments. Cinven’s skills and expertise, including its knowledge of the sector and proven track record of investing in established European financial services businesses, will help accelerate Säkra’s growth going forward.”

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory and antitrust approvals.

The SFF builds on Cinven’s leading financial services investment platform in Europe with an investment strategy focused on areas where Cinven has developed significant investment expertise, such as life and non-life insurance and reinsurance, asset-backed speciality finance, wealth management, insurance distributors and other ‘capital light’ tech-enabled financial service providers.

To date, the SFF has invested in Miller (investment completed in March 2021), a leading specialist insurance and (re)insurance broker, acquired in partnership with GIC; Compre (April 2021), a specialist global consolidator of closed books of non-life insurance policies, acquired in partnership with British Columbia Investment Management Corporation; and International Financial Group Limited (investment agreed in 2022, with completion pending customary regulatory and antitrust approvals), a leading life insurance provider of cross-border, long-term savings products for internationally mobile clients.

Cinven Funds’ previous investments in the European insurance sector include Guardian Financial Services in the UK and Viridium in Germany. Other UK-headquartered financial services investments by the Cinven Funds include Partnership Assurance, NewDay and Premium Credit.