White Mountains Insurance Group purchased an ownership stake in Easterly Partners Group, a holding company that takes interests in third-party asset management firms.
Terms of the deal are not being disclosed.
White Mountains agreed to provide growth capital to Easterly Partners to help accelerate its business development. White Mountains also might commit its investment capital to Easterly Partners Group's existing and new affiliates. It also might provide additional capital to acquire stakes in other asset manager affiliates along with Easterly Partners Group.
"We are going to focus on identifying businesses to put interests in. White Mountains has full discretion over the deals we originate. We'll continue to refine our search and selection of managers," said Darrell Crate, co-founder and managing principal of Easterly Partners Group, in a phone interview.
Easterly Partners Group began operations nearly two years ago and made its first investments this year.
"White Mountains is interested in this industry. We look forward to partnering with them to finding asset managers with growth potential," added Mr. Crate, who was previously chief financial officer at Affiliated Managers Group.
The other managing principals of Easterly Partners Group are David Cody, formerly of Fortress Investment Group; and Avshalom Kalichstein, formerly of J.C. Flowers & Co.
White Mountains Insurance Group had $6.5 billion in total assets as of Dec. 31.
