Cinven and La Caisse – Optio Group

WA-65034

Cinven Strategic Fund 2, which is indirectly managed and controlled by Cinven Limited (**Cinven**) as an alternative investment fund manager, and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (**La Caisse**),via a special purpose vehicle, Welling Bidco Limited, propose to indirectly acquire joint control of Spring Topco Limited, a company that indirectly owns the entire share capital of Optio Group Limited and its subsidiaries (together, **Optio Group**) from Spring Newco Limited, a company indirectly owned by Preservation Capital Partners Fund I and several other minority shareholders (the **Acquisition**). Cinven is a private equity firm engaged in the provision of investment management and investment advisory services to a number of investment funds. The controlled companies in Cinven’s portfolio of investments are active in a variety of sectors including business services, consumer, financial services, healthcare, industrials and technology, media, and telecommunications. La Caisse is a long-term institutional investor that manages funds of its depositors, primarily comprised of public and para-public pension and insurance plans in the Province of Québec, Canada. La Caisse is a global investment group which invests these funds globally in all major markets and asset classes, including public and private equity, fixed income, infrastructure, and real estate. Optio Group is an underwriting-led specialty Managing General Agent platform with an international footprint, headquartered in London and operating across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, North America, and the Asia-Pacific, with a smaller brokerage arm. In Australia, both Optio Group and a portfolio company of La Caisse, Howden Group Holdings Limited, supply underwriting and management services to insurers and reinsurers as Managing General Agents, and to a lesser extent, non-life insurance brokerage services.