Finvest acquires Sampo PE portfolio

Finvest, Scandinavia’s only listed private equity fund-of-funds, is to acquire Sampo’s private equity interests and will rename the merged entity Amanda Capital. The new entity will have over EURO800 million private equity assets under management.

Finvest will acquire around EURO19 million private equity investments from Sampo. There remains EURO6 million still to be drawn down for these funds. The acquisition will be paid in Finvest shares and is subject to approval. Sampo will become the largest shareholder in Finvest with a 49 per cent ownership.

The transaction doubles the number of private equity funds in Finvest’s portfolio and the number of investee companies will rise to over 200. Earlier this year, Finvest acquired an interest in Nordic private equity fund EQT Finland for EURO1 million.

Finvest managing director Topi Piela will become managing director of the new organisation. He said: “Finvest’s investment strategy will not change. The portfolio of funds we are going to acquire are just perfect for our core strategy. The number of funds will double, as well as the underlying investee companies.” The firm has a generalist focus on buyouts, not only in the Nordic region, but Europe-wide. But upon completion of the transaction the firm will still have more weight in the Nordic countries than Piela expects in the long run.

Major changes in the management agreement include a downgrading of management fees and a termination of the agreement with LGT Capital Partners, which manages some of Finvest’s funds.

The current management fee of 1.25 per cent will be lowered to a maximum of 1 per cent for commitments up to EURO100 million, 0.75 per cent for commitments between EURO100 million and EURO200 million and 0.5 per cent for commitments over EURO200 million. The reason for the reduction in management fees states Piela is that the firm is trying to be as competitive as possible in the fund-of-funds market. “As Finvest is growing we feel we can cut our management fees. We believe we have room to grow in the future and we want to make it clear that we have only the best interests for our investors.”