Hugh Son of CNBC reports on how Leopold Aschenbrenner built a $45 billion AI hedge fund — and lost most of it in days:

Two years ago, Leopold Aschenbrenner argued he was one of few people in the world who saw the future clearly.

In a sprawling, 165-page essay that became required reading in Silicon Valley, the former OpenAI researcher positioned himself as a kind of prophet for the coming age of artificial super intelligence.

But this week, the limits of Aschenbrenner’s vision were on display when the AI-themed hedge fund he runs — named Situational Awareness, also the title of his viral June 2024 manifesto — ran into the harsh reality of tumbling semiconductor stocks and Wall Street margin calls.

At its peak earlier this month, his fund sat atop $45 billion in assets. By Thursday, however, after being forced to offload all of his leveraged stock bets — including hard-hit names like SK Hynix and CoreWeave — to Ken Griffin’s Citadel at a discount, the fund’s holdings plunged to around $10 billion, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

The story of Aschenbrenner’s meteoric rise and sudden fall has captivated both Wall Street and tech circles, making him the most high-profile casualty yet of the volatility accompanying the AI boom.

A polarizing figure, his online followers saw Aschenbrenner — a Columbia University valedictorian at age 19 — as a genius of the next big thing and followed his fund’s quarterly filings for clues on hot AI stocks.

Before this month’s decline, Situational Awareness racked up gains of more than 1,000% since inception, The Wall Street Journal reported last month. The Journal noted Aschenbrenner was just 24 years old.

Meanwhile, critics pointed out that Aschenbrenner had no experience running money prior to launching his fund in July 2024, calling him more lucky than smart. Some noted that his early work experience was at the doomed crypto firm FTX, where he helped now-disgraced founder Sam Bankman-Fried run a charity out of a Bahamas penthouse.

Others on Wall Street, including former traders at global investment banks, noted that in light of reports Situational Awareness used as much as 400% leverage, the collapse wasn’t shocking.

“A lot of people saw this blow-up as a matter of not if, but when,” said Jerry Diao, who runs a Wall Street coaching firm. “Maybe his views on AI are correct in the long run, but in the public markets, you have to be prepared for the short-term.”

The hedge fund didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.

Earlier this week, before the sale to Citadel, about two-thirds of Situational Awareness holdings were in long and short positions in public equities, according to one source. The rest were stakes in private companies, dominated by a multibillion-dollar Anthropic investment, the person said.

CNBC’s sources spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic details.

The near-collapse of Situational Awareness coincides with the hedge fund manager’s wedding, set for this weekend, sources told CNBC’s David Faber. Aschenbrenner is engaged to Avital Balwit, chief of staff for Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, according to a Fortune profile. 

‘Weirdness’ and ‘disagreeableness’

Born in Germany to physician parents before moving to the U.S., Aschenbrenner showed an early aptitude for math and computer science, according to profiles and podcast interviews.

He skipped several grades in the German school system, graduating high school at age 15, and as a teen at Columbia University he garnered attention for an academic paper titled, “Existential Risk and Growth.”

A Columbia classmate, Sofia Montrone, said that she hadn’t heard of Aschenbrenner before meeting him over Zoom shortly before their 2021 graduation.

“It was not like he was some prince, emerging out of the school,” Montrone told CNBC. “He was just some guy.”

In the interaction, Montrone, who was salutatorian, said she found her classmate “child-like” and socially awkward.

Aschenbrenner has since said that his personality — what he called his own intellectual “weirdness” and “disagreeableness” — was punished in German culture. He came to see it as the source of his edge.

While at Columbia, he co-founded the school’s chapter of Effective Altruism, a philosophy popular in some tech circles that advocates for founders to make the most money possible in order to help humanity.

That network became his career pipeline, eventually leading him to work with another effective altruism proponent — Bankman-Fried — after his graduation in 2021. He worked for a stint at the Future Fund, the philanthropic arm of FTX, before the crypto firm’s collapse.

In 2023, Aschenbrenner landed on OpenAI’s Superalignment team, working under Ilya Sutskever on the problem of keeping AI aligned with human interests. After a hacker breached OpenAI’s internal systems, he wrote a memo to the board warning that the company’s security wasn’t strong enough to stop foreign espionage, naming China specifically.

In 2024, the company fired Aschenbrenner after accusing him of improperly sharing confidential information, a characterization he has disputed, saying he was raising concerns about the company’s security practices.

“I liked Leopold while at OpenAI,” Scott Aaronson, a computer scientist now at the University of Texas at Austin who previously worked on AI safety at OpenAI, told CNBC this week in an email.

“I was sorry when he got pushed out because of sharing information in a way leadership didn’t approve of,” he said. It “sounded like he was trying to do the right thing and they overreacted.”

An OpenAI spokesman declined to comment and referred to statements the company made at the time that the firm disagreed with many of Aschenbrenner’s claims.

Representatives for Columbia University and its Effective Altruism chapter didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Stripe, Github investors

Weeks after his departure from OpenAI, Aschenbrenner turned his brief experience at the leading AI firm into a sweeping vision of where artificial intelligence, and the world, was headed.

His June 2024 essay argued that artificial general intelligence could arrive within years and that governments were badly underestimating the pace of progress. Admirers saw it as evidence that Aschenbrenner was a prodigy with valuable insight into AI’s trajectory, while critics said it overstated both the technology’s near-term capabilities and his own certainty about the future.

By July of that year, Aschenbrenner parlayed his rising fame into seed capital for his hedge fund, raising a reported $225 million from Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and investor Daniel Gross.

That would mark the start of a two-year run unlike any in recent Wall Street history.

“Before long, the world will wake up,” Aschenbrenner wrote at the time, adding that only a few hundred people in the AI community knew what was coming.

“If they are seeing the future even close to correctly,” he wrote, “we are in for a wild ride.”

Yun Li of CNBC also reports on why Situational Awareness hedge fund imploded, even in a tame stock market:

The stock market looked unusually tranquil. Beneath the surface, one of Wall Street’s fastest-growing funds devoted to artificial intelligence investments was unraveling.

In a matter of weeks, Leopold Aschenbrenner’s Situational Awareness went from managing roughly $45 billion to being forced into a sweeping reduction of its listed-stock positions as a historic momentum reversal triggered losses on both sides of its portfolio and set off margin calls and compulsory sales.

Situational Awareness had built concentrated positions in one of Wall Street’s most popular trades: owning companies expected to supply the chips, data centers, power and other infrastructure behind the AI boom while betting against software firms viewed as vulnerable to the technology’s disruption.

Its long positions were concentrated among some of the market’s biggest AI beneficiaries. Public filings showed large stakes in Nebius, Bloom Energy, Sandisk, CoreWeave, SharonAI and IREN as of March 31. By Wednesday’s close, those shares had fallen between by 50% and 78% from recent peaks. 

At the same time, software stocks like Adobe that had been used as the short leg of the trade rallied. That meant the fund wasn’t protected by its hedges. Instead, the longs and shorts lost money simultaneously.

“People get over leveraged in this market, and they get seduced by the big returns that some of these companies can deliver,” said Bob Lang, founder and chief strategist at Explosive Options. “If you’re not managing your risk properly, this is the sort of thing that’s going to happen to you.”

As the value of the portfolio fell, the fund’s equity cushion shrank and its prime brokers demanded additional collateral. Raising cash required selling more holdings, adding further pressure to sliding stocks and generating additional losses. What might otherwise have been a painful drawdown became a deleveraging spiral. Ken Griffin’s Citadel hedge fund reached a deal to buy the fund’s publicly traded assets.

“Running somebody out the door like this is as old as time,” Lang said. “I’ve seen it happen a lot in oil markets ... there’s a lot of things that are happening underneath the surface that we really don’t know about.”

Momentum crash

The episode offers a stark example of how a hedge fund can sustain devastating losses even when major stock indexes appear relatively calm. The S&P 500 remained near record levels as the damage unfolded, masking one of the most violent reversals in market leadership in decades.

“There is no other way to put it, we just witnessed the largest/ fastest momentum crash in modern history,” Jonathan Krinsky, chief market technician at BTIG, said in a note. “And it wasn’t particularly close.”

Morgan Stanley’s sector-neutral Momentum Index tumbled 17.4% in just four trading days, its worst such decline on record, according to BTIG. The drop surpassed the momentum reversals that followed the dot-com bust, the pandemic shock and the 2022 inflation-driven bear market.

The iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF posted its best month ever as recently as April, and is now on pace for its worst month, illustrating how quickly one of the year’s strongest strategies turned into one of its weakest.

Clearing event?

AI infrastructure stocks rebounded sharply Thursday as investors increasingly interpreted the previous several weeks of volatility as the product of a technical dislocation rather than a deterioration in the industry’s fundamentals.

With one of the market’s largest forced sellers stepping back, traders rushed into many of the same chipmakers, power companies and data-center plays that had been at the center of the selloff. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped for a second day Friday, on track for a weekly gain of 0.9% after suffering steep losses the last two weeks.

Still, not everyone believes the forced unwind marks the end of the AI selloff.

Among the most prominent skeptics is Michael Burry of “The Big Short” fame. Burry has been one of Wall Street’s most vocal critics of the AI boom, arguing that much of the industry’s demand is being sustained by financing arrangements rather than end customers.

Rather than viewing Thursday’s rebound as a turning point, Burry used the rally to add to bearish positions in Micron, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF and Nvidia put options, according to a Thursday Substack post.

“The knee jerk reaction to the Paired Momentum unwind yesterday has been to put it back on today,” Burry wrote. “This was a historic reversal, even more so than what happened 26 years ago,” when the dot-com bubble began to burst in 2000.

Burry said oversold and overbought conditions made a short-term bounce unsurprising, but he questioned whether the trade still had staying power.

“The legs,” Burry wrote, already “they look tired.”

What an insane week full of market action!!

Let me blunt: This week is the type of volatile week elite hedge fund traders dream about. 

You had Big Tech earnings, a big Fed meeting, a big Bank of Japan meeting and currency intervention, and a major hedge fund focused on AI imploding because it was way over-leveraged in AI growth stocks.

What more can elite hedge fund traders ask for?

From the big names, Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft added nearly $1.5 trillion in combined value this week:

Wall Street is growing increasingly divided over AI’s winners and losers after the world’s largest technology companies reported earnings and affirmed or raised their capex forecasts, suggesting the spending spree isn’t letting up yet.

Nearly $2 trillion has moved this week into or out of the six megacaps that have reported earnings this season so far. The three biggest hyperscalers, Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet, have all seen their market caps surge after posting strong cloud growth. It suggests that investors believe returns may be in sight after the companies committed to spend billions on AI.

Microsoft gained over $600 billion in market cap this week, while Amazon and Alphabet both added more than $400 billion.

On the other end, Meta has seen its stock plunge after earnings, as investors weren’t sold on its AI investment strategy, erasing about $85 billion from its market cap this week. Apple suffered a steeper drop, losing more than $350 billion in market value, as the memory shortage weighed on its outlook. Tesla lost about $7 billion in market value after it went cash flow negative and forecast higher spending.

AI spending among the megacaps is “trending” toward almost $800 billion over the next 12 months, Jason Greenberg, co-head of global tech, media and telecom investment banking at Jefferies, told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Friday.

Investors no longer question whether people are adopting AI, or if there’s real demand for chips and compute capacity, Greenberg said.

“It’s whether in the long term demand is going to be sufficiently profitable to warrant all of this investment,” Greenberg said. “I think overall that’s the real issue that we’re struggling with right now.”

Investors are in "show-me-the-money" mode, and companies that understand this (Microsoft, Amazon) got rewarded while those who don't (Meta) got punished.

As far as the Fed, Chairman Wash spoke out of both sides of his mouth this week to justify staying put on rates despite internal dissent at the Fed. 

Maybe he knew of a major hedge fund imploding and decided this wasn't a good week to raise rates, but the longer the Fed puts off hiking rates, the bigger the risk they will hike more aggressively in the future.

As far as market action,  let me show you the 5-day chart of two of  Leopold Aschenbrenner's major holdings -- Sandisk and CoreWeave:

 

Both of them were down on Fed day (Wednesday) and then surged Thursday and Friday morning before closing red today.

Elite hedge funds -- not just Citadel, which bought Aschenbrenner's book at a discount -- knew there was blood on the Street, they were all aware of Situational Awareness's margin calls, and they pounced at the right moment to trade these stocks. 

In fact, I can tell you that shares of Sandisk were down 8% on Wednesday around noon, two hours before the Fed's decision, then were up 7% at 3 p.m. before closing down 7% that day. Then they surged over 30% Thursday and Friday morning before closing down 5% today.

It looks like short covering took place in both stocks, so I agree with Dr. Michael Burry, too soon to declare the downtrend is over. 

So, pay attention to Aschenbrenner’s positions, all 34 of them available here.

That's where the market action is these days but more broadly, pay attention to  momentum, because there too, it just looks like short covering this past week, with the downtrend intact:

I can say the same about tech shares in general, despite this week's pop (short covering?), they remain in a downtrend:

 Anyways, insane week, full of action!

Leopold Aschenbrenner's hedge fund blew up and that's not a shocker; his fund was levered four times in AI growth stocks. It's fun when they're going parabolic, but painful when momentum shifts the other way.

I've personally seen so many of these whiz kids blow up in Hedge Fund Land, and stupid investors give them money without realizing they have no money management experience or concept of risk management. 

There's a reason why I recommend all investors who invest in hedge funds read When Genius Failed, it documents how smart people do stupid things with leverage, and they all eventually succumb to Mr.Market.

Lastly, when the week began, Leopold Aschenbrenner was preparing for his wedding. The plan was for a multiday celebration in Carmel, a seaside town in Northern California, with the ceremony at a Tuscan-style villa. 

By the end of the week, his hedge fund had imploded and Ken Griffin's Citadel was there to pick up the scraps.Griffin has built a successful business profiting off the misfortunes of others. 

A good reminder of who makes the real money in Hedge Fund Land. 

Alright, that's a wrap. It's Friday and I don't think people realize everything that went on in markets this week.

Here are the top-performing large-cap US stocks this week (full list here):

And the worst-performing US large-cap stocks this week (full list here): 

Below, Bloomberg's Hema Parmar details the massive selloff of AI assets from Situational Awareness, one of the world's biggest hedge funds and how Citadel's Ken Griffin stepped in to buy the investments. Parmar said that this move is part of Griffin's 'playbook' and he will often jump in to get a good deal when firms are in distress.

Also, Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at Corpay, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss the markets and the outlook for the loonie.

Lastly, DoubleLine CEO-CIO Jeffrey Gundlach joins CNBC’s Scott Wapner following Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh’s second FOMC press conference. Gundlach’s read is that the market didn’t buy what Chairman Warsh was selling. 

While the Fed held rates steady, Gundlach points to the US Treasury yield curve’s sharp steepening during the press conference as the real story, undoing much of the flattening the market had rewarded Chairman Warsh with back in June. 

His view is straightforward: If Chairman Warsh is truly committed to getting inflation to 2%, and not a “whisper above,” then holding rates steady while war-driven commodity prices keep climbing is inconsistent with that goal. Gundlach argues the bond market is essentially calling that bluff and now expects the Fed to hike in September to claw back some of the credibility it just gave up.

Layan Odeh of Bloomberg reports OMERS hires CAAT’s Buzanis to lead private equity funds business: 

Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System hired a longtime executive from CAAT Pension Plan to help build its private equity funds strategy as it makes such investing a more central part of its buyout business.

CAAT’s head of private markets, Adam Buzanis, will join Omers as head of funds. In that role, he’ll develop the external private equity funds strategy and advance efforts to ramp up co-investments, according to the pension plan.

The move is the latest change in Omers’ investment team over the past several weeks after the departure of chief investment officer Ralph Berg, who left to join Singapore’s Temasek. Earlier this month, the pension plan elevated Michael Hill to global head of infrastructure and private equity and gave Michael Block a wider mandate for private capital investments.

Omers has revamped its private equity unit in the past two years, halting direct buyout investments in Europe and shifting its focus to investing alongside partners and through external private equity managers.

Buzanis worked for CAAT for about seven years, running its private equity strategy before becoming head of private markets. He joins Omers on Aug. 3 and will report to Block.

“Omers has made meaningful progress building our funds program, and Adam’s arrival marks an important next step in that work,” Block said in a statement emailed to Bloomberg. “He brings deep experience across global private markets, strong expertise in fund investing and portfolio construction, and a broad network of manager relationships.” 

I wasn't going to blog today, and will keep this short and sweet.

Adam Buzanis was hired at OMERS for one reason: to bolster its private equity funds program, which is where the strategy is shifting.

He has a stellar reputation and was the Head of Private Markets at CAAT Pension Plan, where he oversaw the Plan’s global private markets platform, spanning private equity, private credit, infrastructure, and real estate.

More specifically, he was responsible for overall strategy and portfolio construction and led a team that originates, executes, and actively manages investments across these asset classes, delivering long-term performance and diversification for the Plan.

He is a CFA charterholder and holds a Master of Finance from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University.

I wish him much success in this new and important role at OMERS.

I also want to dispel any rumours that he left CAAT Pension Plan because of the governance brouhaha that hit that organization.

He loved working at CAAT Pension Plan and it wasn't an easy decision to leave, but he had a better offer and will play a pivotal role in transforming the way OMERS invests in private equity funds.

It was a tough decision, but he made the right one and will add value at OMERS.

As far as CAAT Pension Plan, they can hire from within to replace him or go external.

There is a lot of talent out there and CEO/ CIO Kevin Fahey will hire the right person for this important job.

That's all I have to say on this subject. I typically do not cover these executive moves but think this is an important addition to OMERS PE.

I am sure OMERS will make a formal announcement on LinkedIn, and I will edit this comment when it does.

Below, the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast sat down with Brookfield Private Equity CEO Anuj Ranjan. They were live from Berlin at the marquee private equity conference, SuperReturn Berlin (June). 

Great discussion, take the time to listen to it. 

Veselina Petrova of Renewables Now reports Elia, CPP Investments buy 1.8-GW North Sea grid link project from CIP:

Belgian transmission system operator Elia Group SA (EBR:ELI) and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) said today they have acquired the 1.8-GW Tarchon, a subsea interconnector project planned to link Germany and the UK to allow the countries to share surplus clean electricity.

The project will be bought from Copenhagen Infrastructure V, a fund managed by Denmark’s Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP). Specifically, CPP Investments will buy a majority stake in the project, spending CAD 1 billion (USD 709.7m/EUR 622.5m) on a 75% ownership, while Elia will own the remaining 25%. The Belgian company will acquire minority holding through its WindGrid subsidiary, which invests in electricity transmission and offshore wind grid infrastructure.

The new asset will extend CPP Investments’ commitment to invest in developing European energy infrastructure and support Elia’s core regulated transmission activities. The deal is pending regulatory clearance and is expected to close by end-2026.

Tarchon will be a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) link consisting of an underground and subsea cable network with a length of around 760 kilometres (472 miles), stretching between Germany and East Anglia in the North Sea. The facility will connect the two countries’ energy markets and help enhance the security and reliability of their electrical systems. The power to be transmitted through the grid link will help supply up to 1.9 million households.

The interconnector project is still in an early development phase and its exact route in the UK, Germany and Dutch territorial waters is yet to be determined. 

Nadja Skopljak of offshore Energy also reports the 760-kilometer UK-Germany interconnector gets new owners, construction start expected in 2030:

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) and Elia Group, through its international development platform WindGrid, have acquired a subsea interconnector project that will link the UK and Germany from Copenhagen Infrastructure V, managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).

Approved by Great Britain’s energy market regulator Ofgem in 2024, the Tarchon interconnector will be approximately 760 kilometers long, connecting East Anglia and Niederlangen, Germany, and will deliver up to 1.4 GW of electricity capacity.

As a regulated asset, the project is progressing through the relevant regulatory approvals process in the UK and Germany.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Elia Group on the development of the Tarchon interconnector. This acquisition is rooted in a shared commitment to long-term value creation and responsible infrastructure development,” said James Bryce, Head of Infrastructure at CPP Investments.

“By combining CPP Investments’ global investment capabilities with Elia Group’s proven expertise in designing, building and operating complex transmission systems, the partnership is well positioned to deliver a project such as Tarchon, while also allowing us to generate strong risk-adjusted returns for CPP contributors and beneficiaries.”

CPP Investments will provide a C$1 billion commitment for a majority stake in the project, while Elia Group’s investment through WindGrid is structured as a minority participation, representing a 25% look-through stake, and remains limited in scale relative to the group’s overall investment program, consistent with its disciplined financial policy.

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory and closing conditions. 

The earliest start date for the construction of the link in the UK is 2030, with commercial operations targeted for 2034.

“Tarchon is an important project for WindGrid and reflects our partnership-led approach to supporting selected transmission infrastructure opportunities that are complementary to Elia Group’s core regulated activities. As electrification progresses and power systems become increasingly interconnected, well-developed cross-border infrastructure will remain important for the energy transition,” said Daniela Baratto, CEO of WindGrid.  

Earlier today, CPP Investments issued a press release stating it is expanding its partnership with Elia Group by acquiring the Tarchon interconnector project from Denmark’s Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners:

TORONTO, Canada / BRUSSELS, Belgium (July 29, 2026, 1:00 a.m. EDT / 7:00 a.m. CEST) – Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (“CPP Investments”) and Elia Group, through its international development platform WindGrid today announce the acquisition of Tarchon, a subsea interconnector project between Germany and the UK, from Copenhagen Infrastructure V (managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners). The investment is being made by CPP Investments alongside WindGrid to extend CPP Investments’ ongoing commitment to invest in developing European energy infrastructure while complementing Elia Group’s core regulated transmission activities.

The partnership reflects the continued evolution of a trusted and well-established collaboration between CPP Investments and Elia Group, built on a strong alignment of interests, complementary capabilities, and a shared long-term perspective.

At a time when the energy transition requires significant investment in grid infrastructure, projects such as the Tarchon interconnector will contribute to a more resilient and interconnected European power system. Tarchon will provide a 1.4 GW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) link between the United Kingdom and Germany, that will strengthen cross-border electricity flows, enhance security of supply, and enable the efficient integration of renewable energy across markets, supporting the long-term decarbonisation of both systems. As a regulated asset, the project is progressing through the relevant regulatory approvals process in the UK and Germany.

CPP Investments will provide a C$1 billion commitment for a majority stake in the project. Elia Group’s investment through WindGrid is structured as a minority participation, representing a 25% look through stake, and remains limited in scale relative to Elia Group’s overall investment programme, consistent with its disciplined financial policy.

James Bryce, Head of Infrastructure, CPP Investments: “We are delighted to be partnering with Elia Group on the development of the Tarchon interconnector. This acquisition is rooted in a shared commitment to long-term value creation and responsible infrastructure development. By combining CPP Investments’ global investment capabilities with Elia Group’s proven expertise in designing, building and operating complex transmission systems, the partnership is well positioned to deliver a project such as Tarchon, while also allowing us to generate strong risk-adjusted returns for CPP contributors and beneficiaries.”

Bernard Gustin, CEO Elia Group: “By enabling more efficient energy exchange between regions, the Tarchon interconnector project contributes to balancing supply and demand, while supporting the decarbonisation of energy systems. The project also reflects the strength of the partnership between Elia Group and CPP Investments in advancing energy infrastructure, highlighting the continued importance of cross-border projects in building a more integrated, resilient and sustainable European grid.”

Daniela Baratto, CEO WindGrid: “Tarchon is an important project for WindGrid and reflects our partnership-led approach to supporting selected transmission infrastructure opportunities that are complementary to Elia Group’s core regulated activities. As electrification progresses and power systems become increasingly interconnected, well-developed cross-border infrastructure will remain important for the energy transition.”

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2026 subject to regulatory and closing conditions.

About CPP Investments

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments™) is a professional investment management organization that manages the Canada Pension Plan Fund in the best interest of the more than 22 million contributors and beneficiaries. In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, we make investments around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York City, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm’s length from governments. At March 31, 2026, the Fund totaled C$793.3 billion. For more information, please visit www.cppinvestments.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram or on X @CPPInvestments.

About Elia Group

Elia Group is an international electricity transmission group acting as a catalyst for the energy transition. As a stocklisted company employing more than 4,500 people globally, we ensure that power systems evolve in line with society’s and industry’s needs. Through our entities Elia Transmission Belgium, 50Hertz (Germany), Elia Grid International (EGI) and WindGrid, we design, build, operate electricity systems and provide expertise to make electricity accessible, reliable and affordable for society. Operating more than 19,600 km of high-voltage grids across Belgium and Germany, the Group plays a key role in Europe’s energy backbone, supporting electrification, strengthening cross border exchanges and accelerating the transition to a more decarbonised society.

We bring power, today and tomorrow.

About WindGrid

WindGrid is a leading developer of cross-border and offshore grids, powering the energy system of tomorrow. As part of the Elia Group, we develop, invest in and operate transmission assets that connect renewable energy sources to key markets and demand centres.

By combining a developer’s mindset with industry-leading transmission expertise, we help strengthen energy security, accelerate renewable energy integration and enable a more resilient and interconnected energy system. 

Energy is a very important theme for CPP Investments and I'm talking about energy at large (not just renewables).

Why is this deal important? From a simple Google search: 

Cross-border interconnectors are essential for Germany's energy transition, enabling renewable integration with neighboring countries and balancing demand to lower system costs. Policy frameworks aim for significant increases in interconnection capacity to optimize the European market, alongside the expansion of internal HVDC corridors. Read more from Agora Energiewende regarding the integration of the Nordic and German electricity systems here.

Clearly, interconnectors are essential for Germany's growing electricity needs and energy transition, as well as the UK's and other neighbouring countries.

The Tarchon subsea interconnector project and other similar projects will play an integral role in this energy transition.

This is a smart way to invest in the future energy needs of Europe, one that will deliver consistent, inflation-adjusted cash flows once this project is operational in 2034.

That is why CPP Investments is providing a substantial C$1 billion commitment for a majority stake in the project (75%).

Partnering up with Elia Group will allow them to have a partner with in-depth operational expertise via its Windgrid subsidiary.

On LinkedIn, CPP Investments posted this:

We’re committing C$1 billion alongside Elia Group and WindGrid to invest in Tarchon, a 1.4 GW subsea high-voltage interconnector project between Germany and the UK. The partnership reflects the continued evolution of a trusted and well-established collaboration between CPP Investments and Elia Group, built on a strong alignment of interests, complementary capabilities, and a shared long-term perspective. Tarchon will provide a 1.4 GW high-voltage direct current link between the United Kingdom and Germany, that will strengthen cross-border electricity flows, enhance security of supply, and enable the efficient integration of renewable energy across markets, supporting the long-term decarbonisation of both systems. 

Again, this project will take time to develop and is a long-term investment, but by getting in there early with a strategic partner, CPP Investments will reap great long-term returns. 

This may be the first greenfield infrastructure project CPP Investments has invested in (not pure greenfield, as CIP got the project off the ground, but they definitely don't do these types of projects often, that's for sure).

And that also speaks volumes about this deal.

Below, at the heart of Europe, Germany has the advantage of being able to source electricity from its many neighbors. That's why construction is underway on the next generation of interconnectors, which is creating lots of business opportunities. 

Watch this clip, it's obvious that interconnectors are quickly becoming the cornerstone of the EU's energy policy and by 2050, many of these projects will be operational, providing energy and allowing countries to realize on their net zero targets.

Jack Gray of European Pensions reports Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to invest up to €200m in M&G’s CLO platform:

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has entered into a joint venture with M&G Investments to support the scaling of its European collateralised loan obligation (CLO) platform.

The scheme has agreed to provide investment capacity of up to €200m for equity investments in future M&G Margay CLO issuances, and to participate in the long-term economics of M&G’s European CLO business and support the growth of the platform.

M&G said the investment would support its operations in European private assets for global institutional investors.

Through the combination of M&G’s credit research and investment capabilities in European broadly syndicated loans with Ontario Teachers’ institutional CLO investment experience and capital, the collaboration will look to support platform growth while providing strong returns.

The capital will be deployed on an investment-by-investment basis in accordance with the agreed investment framework.

M&G’s Margay platform is led by head of private corporate credit, Fiona Hagdrup, and manages €1.6bn of CLO assets.

“The European CLO market continues to offer compelling opportunities for long-term investors, supported by a large and diverse pool of underlying senior loans,” said Hagdrup.

“While market conditions may evolve, a disciplined, selective approach to credit remains key.

“Our focus on fundamental analysis, ESG risk mitigation, relative value and portfolio construction positions us well to navigate different phases of the cycle and deliver resilient outcomes.”

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan senior managing director, credit, Michael Merkoulovitch, added: “M&G is a valued partner to Ontario Teachers’ within the structured credit space. We share a common investment philosophy and disciplined approach to risk.

“We believe the European CLO equity market is an attractive asset class that complements and diversifies our existing CLO equity programme and are pleased to expand our relationship with M&G.

“With a strong alignment of interest and shared conviction in the opportunity, we look forward to working closely with M&G to grow Margay into one of Europe's leading CLO platforms." 

Ellie Duncan of Alternative Credit Investor also reports M&G forms Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan JV to grow CLO platform:

M&G Investments has formed a joint venture with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to scale its European collateralised loan obligation (CLO) platform, Margay.

The $279.4bn (£210.1bn) defined benefit pension scheme has agreed to provide investment capacity of up to €200m (£171m) for equity investments in future M&G Margay CLO issuances, and to participate in the long-term economics of M&G’s European CLO business and support the platform’s continued growth.

The joint venture aims to support “disciplined” platform growth, while delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns across market cycles, with capital to be deployed on an investment-by-investment basis, in accordance with the agreed investment framework.

M&G’s €27bn structured and private credit platform includes the Margay CLO programme.

Launched in 2023, M&G’s Margay CLO platform is led by head of private corporate credit, Fiona Hagdrup, and manages €1.6bn of CLO assets within a broader €10bn loan platform.

Hagdrup said the European CLO market continues to offer “compelling opportunities” for long-term investors, supported by a large and diverse pool of underlying senior loans.

The CLO platform has also benefitted from capital from M&G’s Life business, which has invested more than £1bn in structured credit strategies over time.

“Our European platform is underpinned by disciplined credit selection and a long-term investment approach,” said James King, head of private and structured credit at M&G Investments. “Access to aligned long-term capital and the expertise of Ontario Teachers’ provides a strong foundation to scale the Margay programme over time, broadening our investor base and enabling us to deploy into opportunities as they arise, while continuing to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns for our clients.”

“We believe the European CLO equity market is an attractive asset class that complements and diversifies our existing CLO equity programme and are pleased to expand our relationship with M&G,” added Michael Merkoulovitch, senior managing director, credit at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. “With a strong alignment of interest and shared conviction in the opportunity, we look forward to working closely with M&G to grow Margay into one of Europe’s leading CLO platforms.” 

On Monday, OTPP issued a press release stating it has partnered with M&G Investments (M&G), announcing a €200 million strategic investment in a CLO platform:

London, 27th July 2026: M&G Investments (M&G) and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers’) - a leading global institutional investor - have agreed to a joint venture to support the scaling of a multi-billion European collateralised loan obligation (CLO) platform. The investment supports M&G’s ambition to be a leader in European private assets for institutional investors globally through its €93 billion Private Markets business¹.

Ontario Teachers’ has agreed to provide investment capacity of up to €200 million for equity investments in future M&G Margay CLO issuances as well as participate in the long-term economics of M&G’s European CLO business and support the continued growth of the platform.

By combining M&G's track record, in-house credit research and investment expertise in European broadly syndicated loans with Ontario Teachers’ institutional CLO investment experience and capital, the joint venture will support disciplined platform growth while delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns across market cycles. Capital will be deployed on an investment-by-investment basis in accordance with the agreed investment framework.

M&G has a 25-year track record investing in structured and private credit with a platform that has grown to €27 billion, which includes the Margay CLO programme. M&G’s Margay platform is led by Head of Private Corporate Credit, Fiona Hagdrup, supported by a team with extensive experience in European corporate credit and structured finance. It currently manages €1.6 billion of CLO assets within a broader €10 billion loan platform, complemented by M&G’s wider structured credit capabilities. The platform also benefits from capital from M&G’s Life business, which has invested more than £1 billion in structured credit strategies over time.

James King, Head of Private & Structured Credit at M&G Investments, said:

“This investment reflects the strength of our approach and track record in CLOs across market cycles. Our European platform is underpinned by disciplined credit selection and a long-term investment approach. Access to aligned long-term capital and the expertise of Ontario Teachers’ provides a strong foundation to scale the Margay programme over time, broadening our investor base and enabling us to deploy into opportunities as they arise, while continuing to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns for our clients.”

Michael Merkoulovitch, Senior Managing Director, Credit, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, said:

“M&G is a valued partner to Ontario Teachers’ within the structured credit space. We share a common investment philosophy and disciplined approach to risk. We believe the European CLO equity market is an attractive asset class that complements and diversifies our existing CLO equity programme and are pleased to expand our relationship with M&G. With a strong alignment of interest and shared conviction in the opportunity, we look forward to working closely with M&G to grow Margay into one of Europe's leading CLO platforms."

Fiona Hagdrup, Head of Private Corporate Credit at M&G Investments, said:

“The European CLO market continues to offer compelling opportunities for long-term investors, supported by a large and diverse pool of underlying senior loans. While market conditions may evolve, a disciplined, selective approach to credit remains key. Our focus on fundamental analysis, ESG risk mitigation, relative value and portfolio construction positions us well to navigate different phases of the cycle and deliver resilient outcomes.”

Note to editors: ¹M&G as of 31 March 2026

About M&G ’s Margay Platform
Launched in 2023 and with €1.6 billion currently in issue, M&G’s CLO platform, ‘Margay’, complements the firm’s nearly three decades in European corporate lending and Structured Credit. Margay delivers the same, conservative, fundamental approach that defines M&G, leaning on its deep resources and track record in fundamental credit and structured finance.  Attention to Environmental, Social and Governance risk mitigation - long part of the approach - has bolstered resilience. 

About M&G Investments
M&G Investments is part of M&G plc, a savings and investments company with £371 billion of assets under management (as at 31 March 2026). M&G plc has customers in the UK, Europe, the Americas and Asia, including individual savers and investors, life insurance policy holders and pension scheme members.  

For nearly nine decades M&G Investments has been helping its customers to prosper by putting investments to work, which in turn creates jobs, homes and vital infrastructure in the real economy. Its investment solutions span equities, fixed income, multi asset, cash, private debt, infrastructure and real estate.  

M&G plc recognises the importance of responsible investing, is a signatory (both as an asset manager and owner) to the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), and is targeting net zero emissions by 2050, across our investment portfolios and operations. For more information, please visit: www.mandg.com

About Ontario Teachers’
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers') is a global investor with net assets of $279.4 billion as at December 31, 2025. Ontario Teachers’ is a fully funded defined benefit pension plan, and it invests in a broad array of asset classes to deliver retirement security for 346,000 working members and pensioners. For more information, visit otpp.com and follow us on LinkedIn. 

Basically, M&G Investments has established a joint venture with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to support the scaling of a multi-billion-Euro CLO platform.

Launched in 2023, M&G’s Margay CLO platform is led by head of private corporate credit, Fiona Hagdrup, and manages €1.6bn of CLO assets within a broader €10bn loan platform.

Hagdrup said the European CLO market continues to offer “compelling opportunities” for long-term investors, supported by a large and diverse pool of underlying senior loans. 

Michael Merkoulovitch, Senior Managing Director, Credit, OTPP, clearly states why they are funding this joint venture:

“M&G is a valued partner to Ontario Teachers’ within the structured credit space. We share a common investment philosophy and disciplined approach to risk. We believe the European CLO equity market is an attractive asset class that complements and diversifies our existing CLO equity programme and are pleased to expand our relationship with M&G. With a strong alignment of interest and shared conviction in the opportunity, we look forward to working closely with M&G to grow Margay into one of Europe's leading CLO platforms."

For those of you who are not aware, European CLO issuance hit a record high in the first half of 2026 (see details here).  

Underpinning this soaring activity are higher rates and increased trade volatility. There are a huge number of refinancings and resets and the appetite for European CLOs is growing (see DB research here).

OTPP is backing M&G Investments' CLO platform because it trusts their capabilities in this area and their disciplined approach to risk. 

Fiona Hagdrup, Head of Private Corporate Credit at M&G Investments, featured at the top of this post, is impressive and knows her subject matter very well.  

In a 2025 interview with the Korea Economic Daily, she stated this:

With deal pipelines reopening and institutional demand remaining robust, Hagdrup sees the European broadly syndicated loan (BSL) market entering a phase of more balanced supply and demand.

“It’s more balanced than it was at the start of the year,” she said. “There is huge demand for broadly syndicated loans, given their lack of rate duration and significantly higher yield than public bonds.”

She pointed to the CLO, or collateralized loan obligation, market as a stabilizing force.

“With the pickup in issuance activity, supply and demand are settling down into an equilibrium,” she said.

“To some extent, the CLOs underpin the yield of the broadly syndicated loans, and their arbitrage needs demand that loans contribute, 4% plus over risk-free rates in their return.”

That dynamic, she added, helps preserve loan spreads and supports long-term value for institutional investors. 

She obviously knows what she's talking about, and now with OTPP as a partner, I'm confident this will be a highly successful joint venture to capitalize on opportunities in the European CLO market.

Below, John Kerschner and Matthew Bullock of Janus Henderson Investors discuss how CLOs combine diversification, liquidity and floating‑rate exposure. They highlight why active global management can be critical to achieving differentiated outcomes. 

Listen carefully as they demystify CLOs and explain in plain English their attraction to institutional investors looking to invest in a portfolio of high-quality securitized corporate loans. 

Vinny Vucago of FS Sustainability in Australia reports La Caisse backs GO.FARM in $330m farmland push:

Canadian institutional investor La Caisse has partnered with Australian agricultural investment manager GO. FARM to launch a $330 million investment platform targeting permanent horticulture assets, underscoring growing institutional demand for Australian farmland.

The partnership will see La Caisse commit $300 million in equity alongside a further $30 million investment from GO. FARM, while also taking a minority stake in the Melbourne-based manager.

La Caisse executive vice president and head of infrastructure and sustainability Emmanuel Jaclot said Australia remained an attractive destination for long-term agricultural investment.

"Australia combines world class agricultural resources, strong export markers and significant land transformation opportunities," Jaclot said.

"Through this partnership with GO. FARM, we are backing a proven operator with deep local expertise and a strong commitment to responsible agriculture. Together, we aim to build a diversified platform positioned to capture attractive opportunities across a sector that is becoming increasingly important to global food production."

Founded in 2013, GO.FARM manages approximately $1.6 billion in assets and specialises in developing underutilised land and water assets into institutional-grade permanent horticulture operations.

Founder and managing director Liam Lenghan said the partnership reflected increasing global appetite for agriculture as an institutional asset class.

"Our focus has always been on finding the opportunity, solving the challenges and executing the fundamentals well by building great teams and capability, back by data-driven insights and good science," Lenaghan said.

"This partnership is built on alignment, not just capital. As global institutions seek exposure to agriculture, access to investment-grade assets remains constrained."

The investment builds on La Caisse's growing sustainable land management presence in Australia and GO. FARM's existing institutional investor base, which includes Australian Retirement Trust, and comes as global investors increasingly allocate capital to food production, natural capital and climate resilient real assets. 

Last week, La Caisse issued a press release stating it has partnered with GO.FARM to launch AUD 330 million platform to invest in Australian permanent crops:

Global investment group La Caisse (formerly CDPQ) and Australian agricultural investment manager GO.FARM today announced a new strategic partnership to invest in high-value permanent horticulture in Australia.

Under the partnership, La Caisse will commit AUD 300 million in equity through a platform managed by GO.FARM, alongside an additional AUD 30 million commitment from its partner, for an initial total equity commitment of AUD 330 million. La Caisse will also become a minority shareholder in GO.FARM, reinforcing the long-term alignment between the two organizations.

Founded in 2013 by Liam Lenaghan, GO.FARM manages approximately AUD 1.6 billion in assets with a focus on transforming underutilised land and water assets into high-performing, investment-grade agricultural operations, particularly in large-scale permanent horticulture, with a focus on water efficiency, climate-smart systems and critical infrastructure.

La Caisse selected GO.FARM for its approach to responsible agriculture, operational capabilities and ability to originate, develop and operate agricultural assets on the ground. The partnership will focus on building a diversified portfolio of Australian irrigated permanent crops, leveraging the country's distinctive long-term investment opportunity in agriculture and its significant land transformation potential.

Emmanuel Jaclot, Executive Vice-President and Head of Infrastructure and Sustainability at La Caisse, said: “Australia combines world-class agricultural resources, strong export markets and significant land transformation opportunities. Through this partnership with GO.FARM, we are backing a proven operator with deep local expertise and a strong commitment to responsible agriculture. Together, we aim to build a diversified platform positioned to capture attractive opportunities across a sector that is becoming increasingly important to global food production.” 

Liam Lenaghan, Founder and Managing Director of GO.FARM, said: “Our focus has always been on finding the opportunity, solving the challenges and executing the fundamentals well by building great teams and capability, backed by data-driven insights and good science. This partnership is built on alignment, not just capital. As global institutions seek exposure to agriculture, access to investment-grade assets remains constrained. This mandate reflects the growing maturity of Australian agriculture as an institutional asset class, and marks a positive moment for both GO.FARM and the sector.”

This partnership builds on La Caisse’s growing sustainable land management presence in Australia and on GO.FARM’s existing relationships with domestic institutional investors, including Australian Retirement Trust, alongside long-standing support from Australian family offices and high-net-worth investors. It also comes at a time when global institutions are increasing their focus on real assets linked to food production, natural capital and climate resilience. In this context, the partnership reflects a shared ambition to continue developing high-quality agricultural investment platforms in Australia over the long term.

ABOUT LA CAISSE

For more than 60 years, La Caisse has invested with a dual mandate: generate optimal long-term returns for its 48 depositors, who represent over six million Quebecers, while contributing to Québec’s economic development.

As a global investment group, La Caisse is active in major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure, real estate and private credit. As at December 31, 2025, its net assets totalled CAD 517 billion. Learn more at LaCaisse.com, LinkedIn and Instagram.

 La Caisse is a registered trademark of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec that is protected in Canada and other jurisdictions and licensed for use by its subsidiaries.

ABOUT GO.FARM

GO.FARM is a leading Australian agricultural investment and development firm, having managed over 96,000 hectares of farmland and 129,000 megalitres of water across New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania, with approx. $1.6B of assets under management. The company focuses on transforming underutilised agricultural land into productive, sustainable, and high-value assets. GO.FARM is committed to delivering strong financial returns for its investors, while enhancing the social and environmental fabric of its regional communities.

This is an excellent partnership for La Caisse in Australia to develop a platform focused on investing in high-value permanent horticulture in Australia.

GO.FARM is a leading Australian agricultural investment and development firm and this partnership will allow La Caisse to bolster its presence in Australia's burgeoning farmland industry.

You can read their story here to understand more about them:

We identify underutilised and undercapitalised Australian agricultural assets and transform them to highest and best use. Our expertise lies in landuse change, asset reconfiguration and investment in people, technology, productivity and sustainability. We have successfully executed strategies across greenfield developments, brownfield reversions, rainfed and irrigated farming systems, annual crops and permanent plantings across multiple geographies. 

As stated above, the investment builds on La Caisse's growing sustainable land management presence in Australia and GO. FARM's existing institutional investor base, which includes Australian Retirement Trust, and comes as global investors increasingly allocate capital to food production, natural capital and climate resilient real assets.  

Sustainable land management is a big part of La Caisse's sustainable investing approach.

Recall, last year, La Caisse invested US$200 million in QIC-backed Renewa to accelerate funding of land under clean energy infrastructure (see details here).

With this deal, the focus shifts to Australia where opportunities for investing in agricultural land are plentiful if you partner up with the right group. 

GO.Farms specializes in transforming underutilized agricultural land into productive, sustainable, and high-value assets. 

With this deal, la Caisse joins PSP Investments which has a huge presence in Australia's agricultural lands (a massive portfolio constructed one farm at a time) and OTPP which recently acquired a controlling interest in Mitolo Family Farms and also has a big Australian agribusiness portfolio. 

What is the attraction to Australia's farmland?  

Emmanuel Jaclot, EVP and head of Infrastructure and Sustainability at La Caisse summed it up well: "Australia combines world-class agricultural resources, strong export markets and significant land transformation opportunities."

Real assets like timberland and farmland offer unique cash flows that are inflation-hedged and are not as highly correlated to real estate and infrastructure. 

That, in a nutshell, is why these assets are attractive to institutional investors. 

In other related news, Investment Executive reports La Caisse and Cinven will acquire Optio Group:

Quebec investment manager La Caisse says it has partnered with international private equity firm Cinven to acquire U.K.-based Optio Group, a specialty insurance managing general agent platform.

Founded in 2018, Optio originates, underwrites and manages specialty risk on behalf of more than 60 third-party capacity providers.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Cinven and La Caisse say in a news release that they believe Optio represents a “compelling investment opportunity” based on several attractive characteristics.

Martin Longchamps, La Caisse’s executive vice-president and head of private equity and private credit, says Optio has a differentiated platform serving complex insurance markets, a strong European base and clear international growth potential.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. 

Cinven and La Caisse issued a press release stating they will jointly acquire leading specialty MGA platform, Optio:

International private equity firm, Cinven, together with global investment group, La Caisse (formerly CDPQ), today announce that they have reached an agreement to acquire Optio Group (‘Optio’ or 'the Company'), a leading specialty insurance Managing General Agent (‘MGA’) platform headquartered in the UK. Financial details of the transaction are not disclosed.

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in London, Optio originates, underwrites and manages specialty risk on behalf of more than 60 third-party capacity providers. The business underwrites a highly diversified portfolio of specialty risks across six business lines – Profession & Specialty, Transportation, Property & Energy, Healthcare, Transactional Liability, and Surety & Credit – spanning more than 30 products. The company has an established European core with an international footprint, comprising 18 offices across 15 countries spanning the UK, Europe, the US, the Middle East and Asia. A key point of differentiation for Optio is its strong track record of attracting and retaining high-calibre underwriting talent, which in turn drives its leading underwriting performance.

Cinven and La Caisse each have deep experience in the Specialty underwriting sub-sector and have both been tracking Optio for a long time. The Cinven team has known the company's management team for more than two years and, together with La Caisse, has built a strong relationship with management. Cinven and La Caisse believe Optio represents a compelling investment opportunity based on several attractive characteristics:

• Exposure to a structurally growing end-market: Specialty MGAs are expected to continue to outgrow the broader Property & Casualty insurance sector, supported by structural tailwinds including carriers' growing appetite for specialty risks and the continued migration of underwriting talent to MGA platforms like Optio;
• A high-quality, capital-light business model: Optio's portfolio of niche specialty risks is diversified by both product and geography and underpinned by a strong long-term track record of disciplined, low-loss-ratio underwriting;
• A proven track record of attracting and retaining leading underwriting talent: Optio’s underwriting capabilities combine deep sector expertise with a strong track record of high-quality execution, underpinning its position as an emerging leader in the sector as well as its long-tenured relationships across brokers and capacity provider networks;
• Significant opportunity for continued organic and inorganic growth: The business is well-positioned to accelerate its long-term growth trajectory through a combination of organic growth and by executing a pipeline of value accretive M&A opportunities in a highly fragmented market; and
• An exceptional management and leadership team led by CEO, Deepak Soni. 
   

This transaction builds on the Cinven Funds’ extensive expertise and long track record of investing in the specialty underwriting and broader financial services sector, including investments in Compre, Miller and Policy Expert. For La Caisse, the investment reflects a longstanding global focus on insurance and insurance-related platforms, with experience across Europe, North America and Australia.

Luigi Sbrozzi, Partner and Co-Head of the Strategic Funds at Cinven said: “Optio is a marquee opportunity in the MGA space, a financial services sub-sector where Cinven has deep expertise and a strong track record. Deepak and the wider management team have built a leading and differentiated home for specialty underwriting talent, and we are excited to partner with them as they continue to scale the business both organically and through further M&A. We are also delighted to be partnering with La Caisse on this transaction and look forward to working together to support Optio's next phase of growth.”

Martin Longchamps, Executive Vice-President and Head of Private Equity and Private Credit at La Caisse, added: “Specialty insurance is a market where technical underwriting expertise, disciplined risk selection and scale increasingly matter. Optio is well positioned in that environment, with a differentiated platform serving complex insurance markets, a strong European base and clear international growth potential. Our investment reflects La Caisse’s conviction in the long-term fundamentals of the sector, our experience across the insurance value chain, and our focus on backing high-quality businesses alongside sophisticated, like-minded partners.”

Deepak Soni, CEO of Optio, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Cinven and La Caisse as our partners as we embark on the next chapter of the Optio story. Over the past few years, with the support of Preservation Capital Partners, we have successfully built a diversified global platform through investment in our teams and the acquisition of high-quality specialist MGAs. Throughout this period, we have remained focused on delivering strong underwriting results for our insurer partners and outstanding service to our brokers. We are confident that, together with our new shareholder group, we will continue to build on these foundations, pursuing our growth strategy and expanding our capabilities while preserving the entrepreneurial culture and specialist expertise that define our business.”

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

ABOUT CINVEN

Cinven is a leading international private equity firm focused on building world-class global and European companies. Its funds invest in six key sectors: Business Services, Consumer, Financial Services, Healthcare, Industrials and Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT). Cinven has offices in London, New York, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Madrid and Luxembourg.

Cinven takes a responsible approach towards its portfolio companies, their employees, suppliers, local communities, the environment and society.

In this press release ‘Cinven’ means, depending on the context, any of or collectively, Cinven Holdings Guernsey Limited, Cinven Partnership LLP, and their respective Associates (as defined in the Companies Act 2006) and/or funds managed or advised by any of the foregoing.

For additional information on Cinven please visit www.cinven.com and www.linkedin.com/company/cinven/. 

This was a deal that Cinven brought to Martin Longchamps at la Caisse and his team rightly jumped at the opportunity to acquire Optio, co-investing alongside long-time partner Cinven.

If you read that press release carefully, no doubt about it, Cinven did its homework here, knows Optio's CEO Deepak Soni very well, and understands the company's MGA platform inside out.

I invite my readers to read more about the Optio Group here. They clearly have deep sector expertise:

Optio is a recognised leader in the specialist Managing General Agent (MGA) space, combining deep sector expertise with a progressive, technology-driven approach to underwriting. With a strong focus on niche and complex risks, Optio brings together a team of experienced professionals who deliver tailored solutions across a diverse portfolio, including professional indemnity, contingency, cyber, and more. Their agile structure, combined with robust data insight and underwriting discipline, enables them to respond quickly to market needs while maintaining strong capacity relationships. This positions Optio as a trusted partner for brokers seeking specialist coverage and consistent performance in a dynamic risk landscape. 

Now it's up to Cinven and La Caisse to help Optio grow during its next growth phase.

Alright, two big deals to cover from La Caisse on Monday that you should all be aware of.

Below, discover how GO.FARM is revolutionizing Australian agriculture with innovative and sustainable farming practices. From increasing productivity to reducing environmental impact, GO.FARM is at the forefront of transforming the future of farming. Learn about their advanced technologies, sustainable land management strategies, and commitment to building a greener tomorrow. 

When you partner up with the right people, extraordinary things can happen. This family seems very much in tune with sustainable farming and their love for it shines through below.