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Milestone Capital completes the Buy-In Management Buy-Out of Compre Holdings Limited
07th March 2011
Milestone Capital Partners LLP (“Milestone”), the Anglo-French private equity firm, is pleased to announce that it has completed the Buy-In Management Buy-Out (“BIMBO”) of Compre Holdings Limited (“Compre”) following receiving regulatory approval from the UK, Finnish and Swedish Financial Service Authorities
Compre is being acquired from the three current owners; Mikko Sinko, Nick Steer, and Ken Davies. Both Mikko Sinko and Nick Steer will roll-over a significant proportion of their proceeds with Nick Steer remaining with the Group as Chief Executive Officer and Mikko Sinko remaining on the Group board as a non-executive Director.
Nick Steer and Mikko Sinko will be joined by two new members of management; Will Bridger (Managing Director - Acquisitions) and Rhydian Williams (Managing Director - Operations).
Milestone, specialists in buy-and-build investments, led the transaction and provided the equity funding for the deal and will own a majority stake in Compre going forward. Milestone has also committed substantial additional funds to support the buy and build vision of the new management team.
About Compre
Compre is a specialist insurance group focused on acquiring Nordic, continental European and UK insurance companies and portfolios that are in run-off, i.e. that have been discontinued by their parent. The business was founded in 1991 and had net assets of c. £23m as at December 2010. In the past 24 months, the Compre Group has grown significantly through the acquisition of the WI Insurance (formerly WASA) and Stockholm Re run-off portfolios in Sweden, the London & Leith Insurance Company in London and has set up new service operations in Basel and Baar, Switzerland.
The new management team believes that there will be significant opportunities in the near future to acquire additional insurance companies and portfolios in run-off from larger insurance companies, largely as a result of regulatory changes in the insurance market.
Philip Conboy, Partner at Milestone commented:
“We are pleased to have completed the transaction following receipt of the required regulatory approvals. The market continues to offer significant opportunities as a result of regulatory changes and we look forward to announcing new bolt-on acquisitions shortly.”
About Milestone
Milestone is an independent private equity firm investing in buy-and-build situations, owned and controlled by its partners, which manages over €300m and invests mainly in the UK and France. Milestone seeks to identify and invest in experienced management teams with a strong track record. Working in close collaboration and partnership with these management teams, Milestone executives will deliver strategic business input and significant industry contacts, ensuring maximum business performance and strong long term shareholder returns.
This is Milestone’s sixth investment in its current portfolio. Milestone has seven investment professionals based in London and Paris.
Compre deal team:
Milestone:
- Philip Conboy
- Colin Granger
Milestone’s legal advisers:
- Osborne Clarke: Paul Cooper, Amy Salmon
Milestone’s due diligence team:
- PwC (actuarial): Mark Allen
- Littlejohn (financial): Ian Cowan
- E&Y (commercial): Kevin Gill
- Cobalt (human capital): Madeleine Pincott
- Willis (insurance): Alistair Lester, Rose Weedon
Management’s legal advisors:
-
Eversheds : Richard Moulton, Victoria Groves
For further information, please contact:
Philip Conboy: philip.conboy@milestone-capital.com
Colin Granger: colin.granger@milestone-capital.com
