CVC Capital Partners has identified private credit in the U.S. as an area for potential acquisitions, according to Chief Executive Officer Rob Lucas.
There are “huge opportunities” for CVC in private wealth and insurance business, Lucas said during a media call on March 20 after the company posted its full-year earnings.
“We have consistently said that if the right opportunity to build our business inorganically, arises, then we are very open to that and we will look carefully at those opportunities,” Lucas said. “We have in the past identified U.S. private credit as as one of those areas.”
Bloomberg News reported this week that CVC is interested in acquiring Fortress Investment and has held talks with Fortress and majority owner, Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co., though discussions aren’t active at the moment. CVC had also expressed interest in a potential combination with HPS Investment Partners before BlackRock agreed to buy HPS in a $12 billion all-stock deal in December.
Insurance business is another focus of growth for CVC, which has raised more than €15 billion ($16.3 billion) of capital from insurance clients over the past five years. Insurers are keen to tie up with private markets operators to help manage the assets on their balance sheets, according to Fred Watt, CVC’s chief financial officer.
“It’s something we look at,” Watt said. “We’re well placed to do that and we can see why insurance companies are interested in in that sort of arrangement.”
CVC made €1.33 billion in management fees last year, beating analyst estimates of €1.23 billion, its latest earnings showed. Its assets under management totaled €200 billion at the end of 2024.
The private equity firm said it has €40 billion of capital available to deploy across all its strategies. It expects “strong growth” in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2025.
