International private equity firm Cinven today announces that Bruno Schick, Jorge Quemada and Supraj Rajagopalan will become equal Co-Managing Partners of the firm, reflecting the significantly increased size of the firm’s recently raised Eighth Fund, AUM, employee numbers and international footprint. Stuart McAlpine will become Chairman of the firm and remain a standing member of its Investment Committee.

Bruno, who has led Cinven’s highly successful investment strategy in the DACH region, will chair the Portfolio Review Committee, the committee that oversees the Funds’ value creation across portfolio companies, and have oversight of the portfolio; Jorge, who has driven the firm’s successful investment strategy in Iberia since inception, will chair the Investment Committee and have oversight of the Firm’s Investment activities; and Supraj, who has historically led Cinven’s healthcare sector investment team, will lead and manage the day-to-day operations of the firm as CEO and will chair the Executive Committee. Together they will determine the strategic direction and development of Cinven in collaboration with its Executive Committee and Partner group and broader Cinven team in the best interests of investors and their beneficiaries. Mr Schick and Mr Quemada will continue with their regional responsibilities. 

The evolution of the leadership team and implementation of this succession plan comes with Fund 8, Cinven’s latest fund, progressing well.  Having commenced nearly a year ago, raised $14.5bn (€13.2bn) and reached its Hard Cap, Fund 8 has made two investments, with the Cinven team pursuing an attractive investment pipeline across sectors and geographies. Cinven has successfully led three leadership succession processes since it became independent in 1995.

Cinven was founded in 1977 and it has continuously innovated in its almost 50-year history of creating compelling returns for its Limited Partners:  it raised the first billion-plus Europe-focused fund in 1996, led the first €1bn European MBO in 1998, and has raised more than €55bn since then.

Under Stuart McAlpine’s leadership, Cinven’s strategic development has continued at significant pace:  AUM has increased from €11bn to €44bn and the capacity and geographic coverage of the firm has also expanded significantly with employee numbers more than doubling to 260 with offices now in Frankfurt, Guernsey, London, Luxemburg, Madrid, Milan, New York and Paris. 

The three new Co-Managing Partners together have over 50 years of experience at Cinven and 65 years in Private Equity, and have worked closely together in the Executive Committee, Portfolio Review Committee and Investment Committee of Cinven across multiple Cinven funds.

In a joint statement, Messrs Schick, Quemada and Rajagopalan said today:

“We would like to thank Stuart for his exemplary leadership of the firm. Under his guidance, Cinven has grown significantly without compromising our distinctive culture of partnership, respect, and commitment to excellence. We are delighted the firm will continue to benefit from his experience as Chairman and a member of our Investment Committee. 

As Co-Managing Partners, we look forward to leveraging our long-standing, close relationship as we steer the firm into its next phase of growth and continue our track record of delivering exceptional returns for our investors. 

The private equity asset class is evolving at the fastest rate in its long history and we are confident that our new management structure and leadership team – working alongside our exceptional colleagues across Europe and the U.S. – see us well-placed to capture future growth and innovation. 

We are excited and humbled to have been given the opportunity to serve our investors, our Cinven team, and our other stakeholders as we embark on this new chapter.”

Mr McAlpine added:

“It has been an enormous privilege to lead Cinven for the last eight years. In partnership with our exceptional team, I have been proud to oversee a period of growth, innovation and strategic development for our firm. As we look to the future, I am delighted to step up into the role of Chairman and I look forward to supporting Bruno, Jorge and Supraj as they take over the day to day running of the firm. I know we will continue to go from strength to strength.”