Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan to co-own financial advisor Max Matthiessen

financialpost.com:

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) agreed to acquire a co-control stake in Stockholm-based financial advisor Max Matthiessen from private equity firm Nordic Capital Ltd.

The Canadian pension fund and Nordic Capital will co-own the business, according to a statement seen by Bloomberg News on Wednesday. Nordic Capital acquired Max Matthiessen in 2020 and will re-invest via Nordic Capital XI, following the exit of its initial investment through an earlier fund. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The deal values Max Matthiessen at about €1 billion (US$1.1 billion) including debt, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.

“We have seen the company grow tremendously over the past four years and some assets are just too good to let go off, so we took the opportunity to re-invest and stay in control along with OTPP,” Emil Anderson, partner and co-head of financial services at Nordic Capital, said in an interview.

Max Matthiessen provides pension, insurance and wealth management solutions for employers, entrepreneurs and individuals. The company has more than 800 employees at 45 locations across the Nordic region, serving over 18,000 corporate clients.

OTPP’s investment is expected to be completed in the first half of next year, according to the statement.

“We see two avenues for growth — one is continued organic growth via cross-selling and boosting areas that are very synergistic with the firm’s life insurance and pensions offerings,” said Iñaki Echave, senior managing director and head of private capital for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at OTPP. “On top of that, we see a lot of runway for acquisitions.”

There’s potential for Max Matthiessen to grow