Deals

Strategic Partners picks up Cinven, CBPE stakes

The Third Cinven Fund invested in Europe-based companies including UK-based Fitness First and Benelux-based DIY retailer Maxeda.

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Strategic Partners has acquired stakes in the Third Cinven Fund and CBPE Capital Fund VII, according to UK regulatory filings.

The Third Cinven Fund raised €4.3 billion in 2001, according to PEI’s Research and Analytics division. Cinven invests in Europe-based companies requiring an equity investment of €100 million or more, according to its website.

In 2003 the Third Cinven Fund acquired Fitness First in a £404 million ($607 million; €566 million) take-private. Fitness First was sold to BC Partners for £835 million in 2005, generating a 3.4x return for Cinven.

Remaining investments in the fund include Benelux-based DIY retailer Maxeda. Cinven acquired the company with KKR and Permira Advisers for roughly €2.4 billion in September 2004, according to its website. The trio tried to sell the company last year but final bids came in below expectations, at around €600 million, according to media reports.

Other investors that have recently exited the Third Cinven Fund include BNY Mellon, which sold its stake to Willowridge Partners in February and Pantheon, which also handed its stakes over to Strategic Partners last December.

Cinven declined to comment.

CBPE Capital is a UK mid-market private equity firm. Fund VII closed on £360 million in 2004. Other limited partners in the fund include the University of Michigan endowment and Lockheed Martin Investment Management Company, PEI data disclosed.

Fund VII’s current investments include Idis, which imports and supplies unlicensed pharmaceuticals. CBPE invested in Idis in 2005, according to its website.

Realised investments include BWA Water Additives, which makes water treatment chemicals, and Moody International, an oil and gas support services company. Both companies were acquired in 2004 and sold in 2007, the website disclosed.

CBPE was unavailable to comment by press time.

Strategic Partners purchased the two stakes from Chase Capital Partners, which was renamed JPMorgan Partners in 2000. JPMorgan Partners spun-out and became CCMP, a buyout and growth equity private equity firm, in 2006.

Strategic Partners did not return a request for comment and CCMP declined to comment.