Keyhaven buys Darag from Augur

Keyhaven initially invested €60m in April 2013, before acquiring the remaining shares from Augur in April this year. This brings Darag's capital base to a total of €83m.

The deal, which has seen Keyhaven secure 100% of Darag's shares together with the company's management team, has now been approved by the German regulator BaFin.

Darag stated it has seen increased interest since new insurance regulation Solvency II was announced last year. The German financial authorities have recently proposed amendments to how insurance companies can invest in private equity before Solvency II is implemented in 2016.

Under Augur's ownership, Darag was restructured and repositioned as the first reinsurance company to specialise in run-off in continental Europe. According to a PwC study, the European run-off insurance market amounted to €235bn in 2013.

Previous funding
In April 2009, Frankfurt-based private equity firm Augur acquired a majority stake in German insurance company Darag for €20m from Württembergische & Badische Versicherungs AG (Wüba), a JC Flowers portfolio company.

According to unquote" data, Wüba purchased Darag from Axa in July 2006.

Company
Founded in 1949, Darag is a direct insurance and reinsurance company. It takes over inactive or discontinued business from direct insurers and reinsurers, and relieves these companies from old risks, guaranteeing professional settlement of claims.

Last year, Darag acquired seven inactive portfolios, bringing its total number of deals to 17 since starting business in 2009. The company currently employs 22 staff at its headquarters in Wedel, near Hamburg. Additional claims experts are located in Hamburg, Munich, Erfurt, Berlin, Madrid, Rotterdam, Brussels and Vienna.

People
Arndt Gossmann is CEO of Darag. Claus H Stenbaek is managing partner at Keyhaven. Günther P Skrzypek is managing partner at Augur.

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