CVC Capital Partners IPO: Everything you need to know about CVC Capital

What do we know about the CVC Capital Partners IPO?

*Update: CVC Capital Partners has delayed their IPO for a second time. The private equity firm will not consider a public listing until 2024 due to market uncertainty, according to the Financial Times.*

CVC Capital Partners, based in Luxembourg, is the largest European private equity and investment advisory firm. The firm first announced tentative plans to list on the stock market in 2022, but the listing was delayed due to the global economic uncertainty from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In 2023, CVC Capital Partners again considered a multibillion-euro listing on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange before further delaying.

At the announcement of a 2023 IPO, the firm’s advisories included Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley. The company was aiming for a valuation of over $20 billion, a figure previously unmet by any private equity IPO. While CVC Capital has worked to increase and diversify assets under management in 2023 in preparation for an IPO, it’s unknown whether its strategy and goals will change in 2024.

The origin of CVC Capital Partners was founded in 1981 as Citicorp Venture Capital, a subsidiary of Citigroup. In 1993 managing director Michael Smith and several senior investment officials spun out from Citibank to form CVC Capital as an independent private equity firm. Within just a few years, CVC Capital became one of the largest private equity firms in Europe. The firm expanded into Asia in 2001 and the US in 2007. 

Learn more about what an IPO is and how it works.

When is the CVC Capital Partners IPO?

CVC Capital Partners has delayed plans to go public for a second time due to market uncertainty. Now, the private equity firm has postponed the possibility of an IPO until at least 2024. 

See other upcoming IPOs.

How much is CVC Capital Partners worth?

CVC Capital Partners has raised a total of $55.1 billion over eight funding rounds, the most recent one raising $3.5 billion announced on 18 Jan 2023, according to Crunchbase. As reported above, CVC Capital has stated it is aiming for a more than $20 billion valuation in its IPO – larger than any private equity firm so far. CVC was last valued at $16.4 billion in 2021 when the company agreed to sell a minority stake to Blue Owl’s Dyal Capital.

In terms of portfolio, CVC Capital Partners manages about $152 billion of assets ranging from private equity, secondaries and credit. Funds raised in the IPO will be used to expand its portfolio by buying additional asset management businesses, two insiders told The Financial Times. 

How to trade CVC Capital Partners stock?

Once CVC Capital Partners has listed, you’ll be able to trade its shares in the same way as any other stock on the market.

In the meantime, you can trade thousands of other shares with City Index in these easy steps:

1. Open a City Index account, or log in if you’re already a customer
2. Search for the company you want to trade in our award-winning platform
3. Choose your position and size, and your stop and limit levels
4. Place the trade

Alternatively, you can practise trading shares in a risk-free demo account.

What does CVC Capital Partners do?

CVC Capital Partners is a private equity and investment advisory firm. As a PE, CVC Capital receives funds from private and public entities and uses that money to take controlling stakes in private and public companies. CVC Capital then works with company executives at an advisory level to raise the value of the business and sell their shares for a profit.

PE firms like CVC Capital are able to leverage their deep coffers to take aggressive strategies on company debt to increase tax flow through financing and tax advantages.

CVC Capital Partners’ current portfolio includes covers a variety of sectors such chemicals, construction, entertainment, healthcare, retail and sports. Some of the largest names of its subsidiaries include Breitling, Lipton, Petco and Cortefiel. The firm has also taken a deep interest in sports leagues with positions in rugby’s Six Nations in addition to cricket, football and motorsports.

One of CVC’s most famous deals is its 2006 acquisition of Formula 1 for $1 billion, which was sold a decade later for $8 billion to Liberty Media Group. It represents one of the most lucrative deals in sports history.

Who are CVC Capital Partners’ subsidiaries?

CVC Capital Partners’ portfolio of subsidiaries includes dozens of companies across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Some of the most high-profile companies controlled by CVC Capital include pet retailer Petco, British medical device company Rayner, clothing brand A Bathing Ape, insurance provider Fidelis and Spanish football league La Liga.

How does CVC Capital Partners make money?

CVC Capital Partners makes money by buying controlling stakes in companies – usually private ones with no public shareholder obligations but sometimes public ones as well – and pumping their value up before selling the company at a higher price.

According to CVC Capital Partners’ website, the company focuses its investments in stable, non-cyclic markets. Specifically, CVC looks for companies with defendable market positions and predictable cash flows. These are companies with products and services needed by a diverse audience across a large service area that are needed in all seasons and economic markets.

CVC Capital Partners’ investment strategy is divided into six different divisions:

Europe and the Americas: $83 billion funds committed across 70 different investments

• CVC Europe and the Americas focuses on controlling marketing-leading businesses across these regions
• Companies in this division provide goods and services to a large and diverse customer base and fulfil a need in all seasons and economic markets
• These companies have unique offerings that make for defendable market positions against new competitors

  Asia: $13 billion funds committed across 27 active investments

• CVC Asia focuses on businesses profiting from the region’s rising middle class and growing consumption trends in retail, financial services, healthcare and business services sectors
• CVC Asia has focused on controlling promising companies across Asia since 1999

  Strategic opportunities: $8 billion funds committed across 13 active investments

• CVC strategic opportunities invests in high-quality businesses seen as more stable with the expectation of longer holding periods
• Companies in this portfolio are in low-volatility sectors and offer products and services needed year-round regardless of economic conditions

  Growth: $3 billion funds committed across 14 active investments

• CVC growth primarily focuses on high-growth technology companies with recurring revenue models and a large total addressable market
• Companies included provide high-cost products and services with strong unit economics to numerous customer segments

  Secondaries: $11 billion worth of assets under management and 165 completed transactions

• Overseen by a subsidiary of CVC Capital, Glendower Capital, secondaries are the purchase of assets from other investors rather than directly from companies

  Credit: $54 billion funds committed

• CVC Credit provides capital to companies too small for direct investment in Europe and North America with a focus on risk management

Who are CVC Capital Partners’ competitors?

As the largest private equity firm in Europe, CVC Capital Partners’ competitors are other global PE firms of similar size like Blackstone Group, KKR & Co., the Carlyle Group and EQT AB Group. Together these firms make up the five largest PE firms by total assets under management (AUM).

If CVC Capital Partners achieves the $20 billion valuation goal from this IPO, it will be the largest IPO of a PE firm to date. In addition to CVC Capital, the three biggest private equity firms are all publicly listed.

• Blackstone Group received $4.13 billion from its June 2007 IPO and currently has a market cap of $119 billion*
• KKR & Co. received $3.56 billion from its IPO in July 2010 and currently has a market cap of $68.37 billion
• Carlyle Group Inc. received $671 million in its IPO in May 2012 and has a current market cap of $10.95 billion
• EQT AB went public in September 2019 and received around $15 billion from its IPO, currently the firm has a market cap of $30.46 billion*

*as of 15 August, 2023.

Who owns CVC Capital Partners?

As a private equity firm, the owner of CVC Capital Partners includes all of the large, institutional investors who are considered stakeholders in the company. These investors include pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, university endowments, insurance companies and a few extremely wealthy individuals.

Some notable people at CVC Capital Partners include co-founders Donald Mackenzie, Rolly van Rappard and Steve Koltes. Rob Lucas is the company's managing partner.