Aquiline holds $475.6M first close

Aquiline Capital Partners has held a first close of $475.6 million for its sophomore fund.

The New York-based firm, which invests in financial companies, attracted 40 investors to the Aquiline Financial Services Fund II, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The fund has a $2 billion target.

A spokesman for Aquiline declined to comment.

Aquiline has proposed a richer share of fees for limited partners, as previously reported by Buyouts (a PE Week affiliate publication), offering to allocate all of its fees to the limited partners if it reaches its target, according to a board document from the Oregon Investment Council. In contrast, the firm offered an 80/20 fee split for its inaugural $1.1 billion fund, which closed in 2007.

Aquiline, which was founded in 2005 and is headed by Jeffrey Greenberg, previously the chairman and CEO of March & McLennan, focuses its investments on financial services, including insurance, asset management and financial technology.

In June, the firm anchored a $35 million private placement in $1.6 billion-asset BNC Bancorp, a holding company based in High Point, N.C., that is the parent of Bank of North Carolina. BNC said the capital will support the bank’s expansion in North Carolina and neighboring states.

Aquiline’s investment gave it 24.9% ownership of BNC. —Steve Bills