Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Private equity, Financial services |
Founded | 2001 |
Founder | J. Christopher Flowers |
Headquarters | New York, New York, United States |
Products | Leveraged buyout, Growth capital |
AUM | US$5.4 billion [1] |
Total assets | $7.9 billion |
Divisions | J.C. Flowers I L.P. and J.C. Flowers II L.P. |
Website | jcfco.com |
J.C. Flowers & Co. is an American private equity investment firm, focused on investments in the financial services sector. The firm, founded in 2001, [2] is based in New York City and run by billionaire [3] J. Christopher Flowers, a former Goldman Sachs partner. [4] As of 2017, the firm had invested more than $15 billion in capital. [5]
JC Flowers manages two private equity funds, J.C. Flowers I LP, closed in 2002 with $900 million of committed capital, and J.C. Flowers II LP, closed in 2006 with $7.0 billion of committed capital. Both funds are focused exclusively on the financial services sector. JC Flowers in Europe is led by its managing director, David Morgan. [6]
JC Flowers' most notable investments include such financial services companies as:
JC Flowers has also been active in a number of high-profile contemplated transactions that did not occur. In mid-2007, an investor group led by JC Flowers signed an agreement to purchase Sallie Mae for approximately $25 billion (USD), giving JC Flowers and Friedman Fleischer & Lowe 50.2 percent of the company. This deal fell through, however. [7] In late 2007, JC Flowers was one of the many companies bidding for the troubled British Bank, Northern Rock. [8] They pulled out of the bidding in December. [9]
On January 21, 2008, JC Flowers made an informal bid of £4bn for Friends Provident. [10] A revised bid of £3.5 billion was rejected. [11] On March 14, 2008, JC Flowers was reported to be in talks to buy troubled US investment bank Bear Stearns. [12] On April 16, 2008, JC Flowers issued an offer to buy 24.9% of the shares of Hypo Real Estate Group at a price of €22.50 per share. [13] At the end of 2006, JC Flowers purchased a company called PanEuroLife in Luxembourg and started to build the NewPELGroup. [14]
In July 2010 JC Flowers announced its intention to purchase a stake in the UK's Kent Reliance Building Society [15] and this deal was completed on 1 February 2011 with the formation of OneSavings Bank Plc.
In December 2012 JC Flowers was reported to have submitted a non-binding first-round bid for the 316 branches being re-auctioned by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group. [16] In July 2013, JC Flowers agreed to buy £450 million of loans belonging to struggling British bank Northern Rock. [17]
In October 2016, JC Flowers aided the acquisition of retail stockbroker TD Direct Investing Europe by a smaller rival Interactive Investor to create the United Kingdom's second-biggest online fund supermarket. [18]
In May 2017, JC Flowers completed the acquisition of the insurance company UK General for an undisclosed sum. [19]
The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management.
SLM Corporation is a publicly traded U.S. corporation that provides consumer banking. Its nature has changed dramatically since it was set up in the early 1970s; initially a government entity that serviced federal education loans, it then became private and began offering private student loans.
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strategic partners, hedge funds. As of December 31, 2023, the firm had completed more than 730 private equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total enterprise value. As of December 31, 2023, assets under management (AUM) and fee paying assets under management (FPAUM) were $553 billion and $446 billion, respectively.
Friends' Provident Insurance was a banking institution founded in 1832 to serve the needs of the Society of Friends (Quakers). Based in Bradford, Yorkshire, it concentrated on sickness and annuity policies until its life fund acquired Century Insurance in 1918, expanding into general insurance. The restriction to Quaker membership was an increasing constraint but the ties were substantially reduced by the Friends' Provident Institution Act 1915. Although Century's branch network enabled FPI to expand, the periodic underwriting losses strained the life fund's capital base and Century was sold in 1975. In the year 2000, Friends Provident demutualised and listed on the FT100 Index. After abortive takeover negotiations, Friends accepted a takeover bid from Resolution Limited in 2009.
Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate business has actively acquired commercial real estate across the globe. Blackstone is also active in credit, infrastructure, hedge funds, secondaries, growth equity, and insurance solutions. As of May 2024, Blackstone has more than US$1 trillion in total assets under management, making it the largest alternative investment firm globally.
Sallie L. Krawcheck is the former head of Bank of America's Global Wealth and Investment Management division and is currently the CEO and co-founder of Ellevest, a digital financial advisor for women launched in 2016. She has been called "the most powerful woman on Wall Street."
Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd. (TFCP) is a UK-based private equity firm. Financier Guy Hands founded the firm in 2002 through the spin-off of Nomura Principal Finance Group. The firm, which traces its roots to the formation of its predecessor in 1994, has invested over €14 billion since inception.
UniCredit S.p.A. is an Italian multinational banking group headquartered in Milan. It is a systemically important bank and the world's 34th largest by assets. It was formed through the merger of Credito Italiano and Unicredito in 1998 but has a corporate identity stretching back to its first foundation in 1870 as Banca di Genova. UniCredit is listed on the Borsa Italiana and Frankfurt Stock Exchange and is a constituent stock of the Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading shares.
An auction rate security (ARS) typically refers to a debt instrument with a long-term nominal maturity for which the interest rate is regularly reset through a Dutch auction. Since February 2008, most such auctions have failed, and the auction market has been largely frozen. In late 2008, investment banks that had marketed and distributed auction rate securities agreed to repurchase most of them at par.
The Hypo Real Estate Holding AG is a holding company based in Munich, Germany which comprises many real estate financing banks. The company's activities span three sectors of the real estate market: commercial property, infrastructure and public finance, and capital markets and asset management. Hypo Real Estate is the second largest commercial property lender in Germany.
Fortress Investment Group is an American investment management firm based in New York City. It was founded as a private equity firm in 1998 by Wes Edens, Rob Kauffman, and Randal Nardone.
James Christopher Flowers is an American private equity investor and investment manager focused on the financial services industry. He is a Managing Director and CEO of J.C. Flowers & Co., and a member of the firm's Management Committee.
Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. is an investment banking and financial services company that specializes in wealth management and brokerage in capital markets. It is the largest independent investment dealer in Canada. The firm focuses on growth companies, with operations in 10 countries. Canaccord Genuity, the international capital markets division, is based in Canada, with offices in the US, the UK, France, Germany, Ireland, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Dubai, Australia, Barbados, and The Bahamas.
AlpInvest Partners is a global private equity asset manager with over $85 billion of committed capital since inception as of December 31, 2022. The firm invests on behalf of more than 450 institutional investors from North America, Asia, Europe, South America and Africa.
BC Partners is a British international investment firm with over $40 billion of assets under management across private equity, credit and real estate in Europe and North America. Its global headquarters are in London. The firm invests across all industries. BC Partners was founded in 1986 and has offices in New York, Paris and Hamburg. Since inception, BC Partners has completed 113 private equity investments in companies with a total enterprise value of €145 billion.
Hellman & Friedman LLC (H&F) is an American private equity firm, founded in 1984 by Warren Hellman and Tully Friedman, that makes investments primarily through leveraged buyouts as well as growth capital investments. H&F has focused its efforts on several core target industries including media, financial services, professional services and information services. The firm tends to avoid asset intensive or other industrial businesses. H&F is based in San Francisco, with offices in New York and London.
Private equity in the 2000s represents one of the major growth periods in the history of private equity and venture capital. Within the broader private equity industry, two distinct sub-industries, leveraged buyouts and venture capital expanded along parallel and interrelated tracks.
In 2008 the Northern Rock bank was nationalised by the British government, due to financial problems caused by the subprime mortgage crisis. In 2010 the bank was split into two parts to aid the eventual sale of the bank back to the private sector.
Partners Group Holding AG is a Swiss-based global private equity firm with US$149 billion in assets under management in private equity, private infrastructure, private real estate and private debt.
Hamburg Commercial Bank is a commercial bank in northern Europe with headquarters in Hamburg as well as Kiel, Germany. It is active in corporate and private banking. Considered to be the world’s largest provider of maritime finance, its main focus is on shipping, transportation, real estate and renewable energy. The bank is one of the pioneers in the pan-European project financing of renewable energies and is also involved in the expansion of digital infrastructure.