Newcleus, a provider of employer-owned life insurance and annuity products, completed a strategic transaction with the Waterfall Sentinel Fund, a private equity vehicle managed by Waterfall Asset Management.
Waterfall is making the investment in partnership with the CEO of Newcleus, Dan Barbaree, and members of the firm’s senior management team, who will continue to lead the company’s operations. The transaction will position Newcleus to augment its team of specialized insurance professionals, customer reach, product innovation and technology enablement. With the support of Waterfall, Newcleus will explore opportunities to accelerate its growth by pursuing complementary and strategic acquisitions.
“For over two decades, Newcleus has structured and implemented unique and competitive strategies for our clients. We are tremendously proud of the growth and customer relationships we have earned through deep product expertise, exceptional customer service and visionary technology solutions,” Barbaree said. “We are thrilled to partner with Waterfall, which shares our core values, including providing best-in-class service, and which will support our ongoing investment in people, products and technology to continually enhance our capabilities.”
“We believe Newcleus’ competitive advantage in industry knowledge and structuring sophistication has positioned this team to capitalize on the tailwinds across the employer-owned life insurance markets and we look forward to supporting the Newcleus team as they continue to scale,” John Nelligan, managing director at Waterfall, said.
This latest platform investment by the Waterfall Sentinel Fund is consistent with the fund’s strategy of partnering with management in niche financial services and financial technology sectors across the lower middle market. Newcleus represents the seventh distinct platform investment made by Waterfall’s private equity team, in the Waterfall Sentinel Fund or other Waterfall funds, since its formation at the end of 2017.
Fox Rothschild served as legal counsel and FinPro Capital Advisors served as financial advisor to Newcleus with respect to the transaction. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel served as legal counsel to Waterfall.
