Private Equity · Profile from Private Equity Research Companion
CVC Capital Partners
Europe's largest private-markets firm by private-equity fund size; born inside Citicorp, spun out in 1993, listed on Euronext Amsterdam in April 2024.
At a glance
- Founded
- 1981 as Citicorp Venture Capital Europe; independent since 1993
- Headquarters
- Luxembourg (holding company CVC Capital Partners plc, Jersey-incorporated); key offices London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid, Milan, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo
- Listing
- Euronext Amsterdam (ticker CVC), IPO 26 April 2024 at €14/share
- AUM
- ~€200bn (reported, end-2024; incl. DIF infrastructure and secondaries); fee-paying AUM ~€140bn+
- Strategies
- Private equity (Europe/Americas, Asia), Strategic Opportunities (long-hold), Growth, Secondaries (Glendower → CVC Secondary Partners), Credit, Infrastructure (DIF)
- Flagship fund (latest)
- CVC Capital Partners IX — €26bn (closed 2023), at the time the largest PE fund ever raised
12 deals and moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2003
Debenhams
Public-to-Private Buyout
2004
The AA
Corporate Carve-out
2006
Formula One
Secondary / Structured Buyout
2007
Samsonite
Secondary Buyout / Take-private
2007
Univar
Public-to-Private Buyout
2015
Petco
Secondary Buyout
2016
Tipico
Majority Growth Buyout
2017
Breitling
Family Succession Buyout
2018
Recordati
Controlling Stake in a Listed Company
2021
LaLiga
Structured Minority Rights Investment
2021
Six Nations
Minority Investment in Commercial Rights
2022
ekaterra
Corporate Carve-out