Who Owns CVC Capital Partners?

The CVC name began inside Citicorp, which established a European venture capital operation in 1981. The team ran buyouts and growth investments under the bank's umbrella through the 1980s and early 1990s before spinning out in 1993 as an independent firm, keeping the initials and shedding the corporate parent.

Through the following decades CVC built one of Europe's strongest buyout franchises, known for large take-privates and corporate carve-outs. Its defining public transaction was the 2006 acquisition of a controlling stake in Formula One, which it sold to Liberty Media in 2017 at a profit that became one of the most cited private equity successes in history.

The brand's scope broadened steadily. It added Asian and strategic opportunities platforms, acquired Glendower Capital for secondaries in 2022, and took a majority of DIF Capital Partners in 2023 to create CVC DIF in infrastructure. A private wealth push extended the brand beyond institutional clients to individual investors.

The corporate event that reshaped the brand was the April 2024 IPO on Euronext Amsterdam, which raised about 2.3 billion euros and turned the management company into a listed plc. The brand now fronts a public company managing 205 billion euros with 1,507 staff across 29 offices, and 2025 brought record management fees of 1.5 billion euros and the launch of the Catalyst mid-market strategy.