Executives at private equity firm Rosemont Investment Partners have formed a new business with insurance company Markel Corp. that will provide permanent capital to money management and wealth management firms, said Charles B. Burkhart Jr., Rosemont's founder.
"We will be transitioning from a private equity to permanent capital structure with a sole partner," Mr. Burkhart said.
The new entity, Rosemont Investment Group, will be a unit of Markel Ventures, an arm of Markel Corp. that makes permanent investments in companies outside of the insurance industry. The new company will be majority-owned by Markel and minority-owned by Mr. Burkhart, who declined to provide the ownership percentages. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed.
"Rosemont Partners III, (Rosemont Investment Partners') final (private equity) fund, will remain untouched. RP III is invested in eight asset and wealth management companies that, in aggregate, manage $55 billion," Mr. Burkhart said.
The $102 million Rosemont Partners III closed in 2013 and is fully invested. The new entity will be able to make larger investments than Rosemont's private equity fund.
The new entity could take co-investments but Markel would be its sole investor, he said.
"We will be looking at investing in the same kinds of firms but the scope will be wider. We will be looking to write equity checks of between $5 million and $50 million but they could be much larger than that for appropriate opportunities, and/or we would consider co-investors," Mr. Burkhart said.
