Söderberg & Partners sells 50% of the company to KKR in a $1bn deal.

Söderberg & Partners, a Stockholm, Sweden-based company which is the biggest independent pension adviser and non-life insurance broker in the Nordics, announced that it entered into an agreement for selling half of the company to KKR.

The deal, which values the company at $1bn, is made with existing investor TA Associates, the US private equity group that became a minority shareholder in 2014, and with former employees. The remaining stake will be held by founders Gustaf Rentzhog and Per-Olof Soderberg and a number of smaller shareholders.

The new owners will grow the company through acquisitions of smaller players in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands in a highly fragmented industry.

Söderberg & Partners, founded in 2004 and led by CEO Gustaf Rentzhog, advises companies and individuals on how to invest their pension savings. The company is a non-bank provider of wealth management and corporate pension and insurance services in the Nordic region and the Netherlands, and has around 2,000 employees based in more than 100 offices.