Risk Partners Life Sciences Roundtable 2025, thank you very much!
The private equity industry is a driver of change in many areas of the global and German economy. While buy-and-build strategies have also found their way into our industry of insurance brokers, we as Risk Partners are the specialists for PE funds themselves when it comes to their own risk management. Last but not least, the challenging interest rate environment shows that the wind can change quickly and investors have to deal with disappointing returns. The will to claim damages is palpable.
The increasing complexity of regulations poses a growing risk for private equity funds, and not only at the portfolio company level. Fund structures, regulatory and tax systems are subject to constant change. Furthermore, the rules for marketing alternative funds and compliance requirements relating to FATCA/CRS, AML/KYC, security and data protection have introduced additional layers of complexity. We have also seen an increase in cyber criminals targeting private equity funds for years, which will certainly continue to increase in times of technologies such as ChatGPT or Alibaba's Ernie Bot. In addition, we are seeing cases of loss in secondary buyout transactions in particular, partly driven by the new fund's failure to achieve its return targets.
Risk Partners offer you comprehensive solutions for insurance and risk management over the entire life cycle of investments. In the second half of the year, together with our partner for M&A insurance, we will be taking a closer look at exits in particular - whether private (M&A insurance such as W&I insurance) or public (M&A insurance / POSI insurance & D&O insurance where applicable) - as well as best practices in a webinar specially designed for VC and PE funds.
We let our work and our clients speak for us.
"As a licensed AIF capital management company focusing on venture capital, we attach great importance to achieving sustainable returns for our limited partners through sound investments and supporting our portfolio companies on their growth path as strategic partners through A11. Risk Partners impressed us with its in-depth understanding of VC, the advantageous and dynamic insurance terms of the Moonshot product, and its expertise in complex regulatory environments. We are therefore happy to recommend them."
"The high professional quality and customer orientation in the advice and cooperation with Mr. Eckstein and his team ensure that we always feel that we are in good hands with the special requirements as a globally active SDAX company, for example in complex questions of capital market liability. As a listed investment company, Risk Partners' structured and professional support is decisive for us when choosing our broker."
"As a venture capital company, we were very satisfied with the advice provided by Björn and his team. We were impressed by their in-depth understanding of the industry and their innovative strength, which is why we are happy to recommend Risk Partners."
"Risk Partners supports us very reliably with comprehensive expertise, both in the area of the special risks of a venture capital fund and with a sound understanding of the life sciences industry. We greatly appreciate the cooperation with Mr. Eckstein and his team and especially the professional and forward-looking advice, which is optimally tailored to our needs. We can highly recommend the choice of Risk Partners' specialists to other VC funds and life sciences companies."
"As a young company, we spoke to a number of insurance brokers about the insurance issue and in the end we were happy and grateful to have found real VC experts in Risk Partners. While it was difficult elsewhere, Risk Partners understood us straight away, competently explained our industry risks and was able to quickly implement our wishes on the insurance market on the basis of Risk Partners' own concepts. We can therefore only recommend the professionals at Risk Partners."
"We had an excellent experience working with Risk Partners and their team. Their deep expertise in the venture capital sector and exceptional innovation stood out, and we are happy to recommend Risk Partners without hesitation."
"Our collaboration with Risk Partners was consistently positive. We were particularly impressed by their in-depth industry knowledge in the venture capital and life sciences sectors and their innovative strength with their own solutions. We are therefore happy to recommend Risk Partners and feel very well looked after."
In a holistic dialog with our clients from the private equity sector, we cluster the strategic risk dialog according to four subject areas, for which we then discuss potential risk transfer.
The answers to the risk discussion can be very individual. Compared to our VC clients, risk management at deal level also plays a more important role on both the buy and sell side (keyword: M&A insurance). For example, one GP may know a reliable network of criminal lawyers and prefer to bear the costs of such a process himself, while the added value of criminal legal protection insurance outweighs this for other GPs.
In addition, it is advisable for private equity companies to strive for harmonization of insurance cover between portfolio companies and the private equity company itself ("don't put all your eggs in one basket"), as there are advantages to forming a different insurer or different D&O insurance consortia. One keyword here is accumulation clauses in terms and conditions, which could then become relevant in the event of a claim.
In order to insure even complex fund constructs, we are in personal contact with all leading risk carriers in continental Europe and the UK insurance market to find innovative solutions that suit your needs.
When insuring private equity funds, insurers take several key factors into account when calculating premiums:
What are the capital requirements for a capital management company? Together with experts Johannes Kiefer (Director of Risk & Compliance at Landsiedel & Partner) and Henry Franz (Managing Director of Layline.tax), we were able to share our complementary expertise on capital requirements for registered
Criminal liability insurance is the ideal complement to the liability cover provided by D&O and E&O insurance. It is particularly essential in the case of investigations by supervisory authorities, which are carried out due to the criminal nature of these investigations. This is because partial cover under D&O insurance generally does not offer comprehensive protection - this also applies to the offers under our Risk Partner D&O / E&O Private Equity Asset Protect.
Why is this the case? D&O insurance, the insurance cover of which is normally regulated in a comprehensive set of terms and conditions of around 30 pages, is to be simplified and summarized on half a page. This does not necessarily provide for truly customer-friendly regulations. We therefore recommend that our clients actively remove these benefits from the terms and conditions in order to reduce the obligations (keyword: reduction of obligations). On the other hand, partial coverage in the area of criminal law protection within the D&O insurance can be decisive if there is no possibility of separate coverage. It should be noted that legal expenses insurers classify private equity funds and banks as financial institutions and that claims such as cum-ex or cum-cum are unfortunately also relevant for PE funds. In this context, we at Risk Partners are conducting educational discussions about the business models in order to distinguish PE funds from this loss-prone industry on insurers' books.
In conclusion, we recommend that every client investigate the legal protection market with regard to this option and ideally take out special criminal legal protection insurance.
What added value does special criminal legal protection insurance offer?
Private equity clients are considered "high-value" targets for cyber criminals. Legislators have also addressed this risk and are raising the requirements with the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA Regulation) for fully regulated capital management companies and harmonizing them in the EU single market. The importance of cyber security has certainly increased dramatically in today's digital landscape, including in the increasingly digital PE business models (keyword: deal sourcing). However, despite our ongoing advice to our PE / VC clients, we continue to see a reluctance to install comprehensive protection through interlinked cyber and fidelity insurance. On the other hand, there is an increasing number of cyber insurers who have refrained from taking on new risks in the PE / VC environment due to an accumulation of claims.
What KVGs should be aware of with regard to preventive measures and risk transfer:
The combination of crime and cyber insurance protects against financial losses caused by fraud, embezzlement, theft, social engineering, phishing and other crimes committed by external perpetrators as well as by your own employees or trusted individuals. Discover more about these real threats, fraud schemes and the best preventative measures to effectively counter these risks in our webinar with the experts from Control Risks. In addition, prepare your KVG for the new possibilities in times of AI mentioned at the beginning, which will enable new attack scenarios and unfortunately also be successful.
Sobald ein Risiko den Abschluss eines Deals gefährdet, muss es nicht zwangsläufig im Kaufvertrag bzw. der jeweiligen Bilanz verbleiben. Steuerliche Dealbreaker, ungelöste Rechtsfragen, weitreichende Garantieverpflichtungen, hohe Escrow-Beträge oder Contingent Liabilities wirken sich direkt auf Kaufpreis bzw. Rendite, Haftungsregelungen und die Sicherheit des Deals aus. Denn wenn der Sachverhalt, Rechtsposition, Exposure und Informationslage so aufbereitet sind, dass der Versicherungsmarkt eine fundierte Zeichnungsentscheidung treffen kann, werden solche Risiken versicherbar und können auf die Bilanz des Versicherers wechseln.
Risk Partners M&A-Versicherungsexperten agieren an der Schnittstelle zwischen SPA-Verhandlungen, Due Diligence und Risikotransfer. Wir analysieren frühzeitig die Marktgängigkeit, strukturieren die Darstellung der Risiken, bereiten die verfügbaren Transaktionsdaten für die Marktansprache auf und verhandeln Deckungsumfänge, Ausschlüsse sowie Konditionen mit den passenden Märkten und Risikoträgern.
Welche Versicherungslösung einen Deal tatsächlich optimiert, hängt von der Transaktion selbst ab: sei es durch die Reduzierung der Verkäuferhaftung, eine bessere Absicherung des Käufers, weniger gebundenes Kapital in Escrow oder mehr Planungssicherheit bis zum Signing und Closing. Das Produkt folgt dabei stets der Struktur – und nicht umgekehrt. Typische Anwendungsfälle sind:
Der Markt hat sich in den letzten Jahren deutlich weiterentwickelt: Neben klassischen W&I-Policen werden heute auch Tax-, Contingent-Risk-, Litigation-, Title-, Environmental- und synthetische Strukturen deutlich differenzierter geprüft. Gerne beraten wir Sie individuell zu ihrem konkreten Risiko zu der für Sie besten Lösung.
Office liability insurance is a form of liability insurance that protects private equity companies against financial risks that may result from third-party liability claims. In contrast to E&O insurance, however, it explicitly does not cover "genuine financial losses", but "non-genuine financial losses" (e.g. compensation for a guest's laptop destroyed by a glass of water being knocked over). Due to the lower risk, office liability insurance also costs only a fraction of E&O insurance and is recommended due to the low premium.
Added value of office liability insurance:
Blog / News
What are the capital requirements for an asset management company? Together with experts Johannes Kiefer (Director of Risk & Compliance at Landsiedel & Partner) and Henry Franz (Managing Director of Layline.tax), we were able to compile our complementary expertise on capital requirements, ranging from registered asset management companies to fully licensed ones. In this issue of VC Magazine, we share how E&O insurance, among other things, can provide added value. In addition to our article available below, please also see the
From Road Builder to IPO Candidate: How Terranor Group AB Conquered Nasdaq First North. It was a day that marked a new chapter not only for Terranor Group AB but for the entire Nordic infrastructure sector: On June 19, 2025, the Swedish company celebrated its successful initial public offering on the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market in Stockholm. Risk Partners as IPO Advisor Because while Terranor Group’s shares
Why cyber insurance does not transfer the core risk of VC & PE funds and why we have invested in Risk Partners cyber master agreements. Why cyber risks are relevant for venture capital and private equity funds With the increasing growth of the cyber crime industry (see Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution), venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds and their fund managers are also increasingly exposed to cyber risks. For years, this has been reflected in the claims we have been able to support, in which fund managers have been exposed to cyber risks year after year.
