Hengeler Mueller advises asko Group GmbH, an acquisition company advised by Lucid Partners, on the financing of the acquisition of a majority stake in the asko Group
26 March 2025
A consortium including Allianz, BlackRock and T&D Holdings will acquire ownership of Viridium Group (Viridium), a leading European life insurance consolidation platform, from Cinven. Generali Financial Holdings (1) and Hannover Re remain investors. The consortium is structured to also enable the addition of other long-term financial investors. Through this transaction, Cinven exits from its majority investment in Viridium after more than a decade of developing a highly successful insurance business.
Viridium will remain an independent stand-alone platform, led by the current management team. It will continue to specialize exclusively in consolidating and managing life insurance portfolios and operate as a long-term partner to the European insurance industry.
This partnership between leading financial institutions and Viridium will contribute to the development of the European closed-life market and will further provide the European insurance industry with optionality for the management of closed-life books.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025. The completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory and merger-control approvals and other customary closing conditions.
The transaction value amounts to approximately EUR 3.5 bn (2). Ownership is distributed among consortium members and financial investors, with T&D Holdings acquiring the largest share (3).
Hengeler Mueller advises the consortium and Allianz as lead counsel on this transaction.
(1) Generali Financial Holdings FCP-FIS Sub-fund 2, a sub-fund of Generali Financial Holdings FCP-FIS.
(2) Headline price, including equity and debt financing.
(3) Due to the ownership structure the investment is not consolidated by any shareholder.
Team Allianz
The in-house team at Allianz comprises Alexander Franz, Klaus von Döhren (both M&A), Katharina Hartwig, Wolfgang Winter (both Regulatory), Christian Gerke (Tax), Sven Botthäuser (Antitrust) and Stephan Dangelmayer (Corporate).
Hengeler Mueller-team for the consortium and Allianz
Insurance/Financial Regulation: Carl-Philipp Eberlein (lead, partner, Düsseldorf), Gerrit Tönningsen (Frankfurt), Marvin Geisler (Düsseldorf, both senior associate), Lennard Wilksen, Matthias Mayer, Justus Brühl (all Düsseldorf), Maximilian Höflich (Frankfurt, all associate),
Corporate/M&A: Daniel Möritz (Munich), Jan Häller (Frankfurt), Ingo Berner (Berlin, all partner), Christoph Roggemann (Munich), Matthias Marz, Benedikt Mertens (both Düsseldorf, all senior associate), Lukas Sengülsen, Amir Hanna (both Frankfurt), Elmar Willemsen (Berlin), Julia Redbrake, Leonhard Kappenhagen, Sarah Schadeck (all Düsseldorf), Daniel Omasreiter (Munich, all associate),
Tax: Sebastian Adam (Frankfurt), Markus Ernst (Munich, both partner), Jan Henry Adami (senior associate), Ann-Christin Wolf (associate, both Frankfurt),
Antitrust: Sarah Milde (partner, Munich), Christian Dankerl (counsel, Brussels), Maximilian Mevißen (associate, Munich),
Financing: Henning Hilke (partner), Pascal Brandt (senior associate), Karsten Staupe (associate, all Frankfurt),
Data protection: Michael Schramm (partner), Jamal El-Zein (associate, both Düsseldorf),
FDI: Jan Schülting (senior associate, Düsseldorf),
IP/IT: Matthias Rothkopf (partner, Düsseldorf), Patrick M. Schmidt (senior associate, Frankfurt),
Employment: Kira Fritsche (senior associate, Düsseldorf).
