JC Flowers & Company
From Taighde
JC Flowers & Company is a private equity investment firm started by J.C. Flowers. Its divisions include two private equity funds, J.C. Flowers I L.P. and J.C. Flowers II L.P., which are both solely focused on the financial services sector.
According to one financial writer, Flowers has a reputation for turning around struggling banks with help from governments.
In recent years, several of JC Flowers & Company's investment attempts, listed below, have fallen through for a variety of reasons.
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Investments
Enstar Group
The Enstar Group is a Bermuda company that acquires and manages insurance and reinsurance companies in run-off and provides management, consultancy and other services to the insurance and reinsurance industry. JC Flowers holds a 30% non-voting equity interest in the direct parent company of Royston Run-Off Limited, an Enstar Group subsidiary.
Shinsei Bank
JC Flowers executed a $1.11 billion takeover of Japan's Shinsei Bank Ltd. in 1999. In the deal, JC Flowers partnered with Ripplewood Holdings LLC to buy Shinsei at the height of the Japanese economic crisis; the deal netted very profitable returns for investors.
NIBC Bank
NIBC Bank is a Dutch merchant bank that was bought by a consortium led by JC Flowers in December 2005. In August 2007, JC Flowers tried to sell its stake in NIBC to Icelandic bank Kaupthing, but the deal fell through in January 2008.
Hypo Real Estate Group
On April 16, 2008, JC Flowers, along with Shinsei Bank and Grove International Partners, issued an offer to buy 24.9% of the shares of Hypo Real Estate Group, a German firm, at a price of €22.50 per share. Currently, however, the German government appears to want to nationalize Hypo; JC Flowers wants to keep its stake.
HSH Nordbank
HSH Nordbank is a commercial bank with headquarters in Germany, dealing in both corporate and private banking, with focuses on shipping, transportation, real estate and renewable energy. An investor group led by JC Flowers acquired a 26.6% stake in October 2006.
Sallie Mae
In mid 2007, an investor group led by JC Flowers made a $25 million bid for SLM Corporation, the student loan company known as Sallie Mae, that would have netted the group 50.2% of the company. The deal fell through for unclear reasons as the global financial crisis worsened.
Northern Rock
In late 2007, JC Flowers reportedly was a bidder for Northern Rock, a troubled British Bank. They pulled out of the bidding in December 2007.
Friends Provident
On January 21, 2008, JC Flowers reportedly made an informal bid of £4bn for Friends Provident. Later, a revised bid of £3.5 billion was rejected; Friends said that the new offer significantly undervalued the company and its prospects and did not represent the basis for talks.
Bear Stearns
On March 14, 2008, JC Flowers was reported to be in talks to buy all or part of troubled US investment bank Bear Stearns. It apparently made an offer of $3 billion for a 90% equity stake before J.P. Morgan agreed to purchase the troubled bank for about $240 million. According to a Bloomberg story about the offer, the proposal on March 15 fell through the next day when JC Flowers failed to get bank financing for the deal and backing from the Fed.
NewPELGroup
At the end of 2006, JC Flowers reportedly purchased a Luxembourg company called PanEuroLife, beginning to build its investments in a new venture called NewPELGroup, which bills itself as a provider of wealth management financial solutions.
IndyMac
JC Flowers has reportedly made an offer to buy failed bank IndyMac from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for $13.9 billion.
Bank of America
JC Flowers has reportedly begun looking into investing in Bank of America, though details are scarce.
Contact
NEW YORK OFFICE
J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC
717 Fifth Avenue, 26th Floor
New York, NY 10022
General Phone Number: 212-404-6800
General Fax Number: 212-404-6899
LONDON OFFICE
J.C. Flowers & Co UK Ltd
10 Gresham Street, 4th Floor
London EC2V 7JD
General Phone Number: +44 (0)20 7562 2300
General Fax Number: +44 20 7562 2319
