San Francisco-headquartered growth equity company FTV Capital has made what it describes as a "significant" investment in Irish hedge fund servicing firm Centaur.
This marks the second investment in an Irish company by FTV, which in 2013 provided $30 million (€27.2 million) to Apex Fund Services in return for a minority stake.
It is also the group's second investment this week following a deal to provide £32 million (€38 million) in funding in the London fintech company Liberis.
No financial details of the investment in Centaur have been disclosed although FTV typically invests between $10 million and $85 million in companies it backs. Centaur said the new investment will be used to hire additional staff and for product development as it looks to position itself for growth in new markets.
Established in 2009, Centaur provides fund administration services for alternative investment funds, including hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, credit and real estate funds, family offices and insurance-linked securities funds. The company has assets under administration of more than $35 billion and assets under deposits of over $6 billion.
Centaur was founded by Karen Malone, Ronan Daly and Eric Bertrand, three former employees of Hemisphere, which was later acquired by Bisys, and subsequently by Citi. It has offices in Dublin, Maynooth, London, New York, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, New Jersey, Luxembourg and Canada.
Portfolio companies
Founded in 1998, FTV Capital has invested in 110 portfolio companies to date and raised over $2.7 billion to invest in high-growth companies offering solutions across enterprise technology and services, financial services, and payments and transaction processing. The group has created more than $6.1 billion in total investment value and $3.6 billion in realised returns since raising its first fund in 1998.
Centaur's co-founders will remain with the company following the investment with FTV Capital partner Kyle Griswold and vice-president Brent Fierro joining the board as directors.
“We have known FTV for several years through their impressive track record in our sector, and now we look forward to working closely together as we enter this next phase of growth,” said Mr Daly.
“We see tremendous potential across alternative asset classes and geographies, especially in Europe and North America, and are confident that we can continue to seize this market opportunity with FTV’s experience and expertise,” he added.
