Northwestern insurance sells IK fund stake – updated

Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual, has transferred its stake in IK VII Fund to another subsidiary of the insurance company, according to a UK regulatory notice.

IK VII is managed by pan-European private equity firm IK Investments Partners and closed on €1.4 billion in October 2013. The fund came to market in December 2011 with a €1.7 billion target. It held a first close on €1 billion in March 2012, but then fundraising suffered from economic turmoil in Europe. 

“In an incredibly difficult market, where we had great timing at first, we got hit in our stride by issues in Europe – Greece in particular. I dislike blaming the markets, but it did affect us,” managing partner Christopher Masek previously told Secondaries Investor’s sister publication Private Equity International.

The fund, which is the firm’s first since Masek and Delef Dinsel took over as managing partners from Björn Savén in 2010, attracted 16 new investors including the Minnesota State Board of Investment and the Danish Growth Fund. Still, approximately 60 percent of IK’s investors re-upped and the fund includes a 5 percent general partner commitment.

IK used Campbell Lutyens as a placement agent.

Fund VII is currently investing and focuses on companies in the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, according to IK’s website. Each investment is typically between €50 million and €150 million, according to documents from Scandinavian Private Equity A/S, a limited partner in the fund.

In April, Fund VII bought a 70 percent stake in Swedish traffic control business Ramudden. Other investments include maritime testing and surveys company Veritas Petroleum Services and industrial goods company Ampelmann.

IK was unavailable to comment at press time.

The firm is based in Jersey and London and has advisory offices in Hamburg, Paris and Stockholm. The firm has raised more than €7 billion through seven funds. It currently manages 19 portfolio companies.

Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company transferred the stake to NM Regal, another subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance for the purpose of portfolio rebalance, according to a spokesperson from the insurance company. Northwestern Mutual has invested in IK funds since 2000, she added.

“We intend to continue to hold our interest in Fund VII.  IK is a core part of our European private equity portfolio.”

This story has been updated to include that NM Regal is a subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual, therefore the secondaries transaction was a transfer, not a sale.