Vitruvian acquires 40% state in CFC for £230mn

Vitruvian has aquired a 40% stake in CFC Underwriting for the valuation price of £230mn. The deal is 15x forward Ebitda and almost 20x trailing Ebitda. It was reported as early as last year that CFC was looking for a potential buyer appointing Evercore to look at potential suiters. It is understood that CFC will acquire its stake by buying out Richard Corfield, the current CFC chairman, Mike Rees, co-founder of Benfield and Hugh Willis, co-founder of BlueBay Asset Management. The remainder is owned by the management and staff of CFC who have added to their 18% stake though a contractual agreement that allows them to buy shares should investors leave. Those who were involved in the bidding process were Lightyear Capital, Inflexion and HG Capital who were eliminated in the second round. Aquiline and Warburg Pincus failed to make it through the first round of bids.