CVC explora una oferta por Verisure sólo un año después de su OPV

Stocks in the Swedish security group are trading 30% below their IPO price. CVC is exploring an offer to take Verisure off the stock exchange, just one year after Hellman & Friedman, its rival in the venture capital sector, delisted it in one of Europe's most high-profile IPOs. Hellman & Friedman took Verisure public in Stockholm in October 2025 at a valuation of €13.7 billion, but the company's shares now trade 30% below the IPO price.

Hellman & Friedman still owns nearly 44% of the group, making it its largest shareholder. CVC's interest in Verisure is at an initial stage and there are no guarantees of an agreement, according to people familiar with the situation. Verisure offers home alarm systems and was founded in 1988 as part of the Swedish Securitas group, but is now headquartered in Switzerland.

In 2011, Hellman & Friedman and Bain Capital acquired the company from another venture capital firm, EQT, at a valuation of €2.3 billion, and in 2015, Hellman & Friedman purchased Bain's stake. In recent years, venture capital firms have had difficulty taking their investments public, as high interest rates have pressured down valuations and geopolitical volatility has complicated pricing in IPOs.

Additionally, the contraction of a market dominated by passive investors has reduced the number of potential buyers, except in the case of larger IPOs. Several portfolio companies that venture capital firms have taken public have underperformed since their debut, further eroding investor confidence in deals backed by these groups.

Like Verisure, the travel platform HBX Group, backed by Cinven, has also faced challenges. Cinven took the company public last year at a price of €11.50 per share, but it now trades below €8. Galderma, a company specializing in skincare products and aesthetic fillers, had a notable exception when EQT took it public in 2024. The venture capital firm's disinvestment this year boosted the total income of its fund and its co-investors to $26 billion.

In this context, venture capital firms have started seeing European listed companies as an opportunity, taking advantage of lower valuations on the continent compared to the United States. Last year, KKR excluded the British instruments group Spectris through an operation valued at £4.7 billion (€5.6 billion) after a bidding war with rival Advent.

Permira and the Pension Plan Investment Board of Canada completed the exclusion of the services group JTC for £2.7 billion. CVC, Hellman & Friedman, and Verisure declined to comment. © The Financial Times Limited [2026]. All rights reserved. FT and Financial Times are registered trademarks of Financial Times Limited. Redistribution, copying, or modification is prohibited.

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