If you find a mother lode of talented portfolio managers, mine it for all it’s worth.
At least, that seems to be the philosophy of Yves de Balmann, head of Bregal Investments, the investing arm of Cofra Holding, the Swiss company that oversees the assets of the Netherlands’ richest family, the Brenninkmeijers. For de Balmann, that talent seam appears to exist at his old employer, Deutsche Bank.
Last month the former co-head of Deutsche’s investment banking operation hired Chuck Flynn, who had run the global private equity fund group at Deutsche’s asset management unit, to run a new private equity fund for Bregal. And one of de Balmann’s very first investments after helping to start private equity specialist Bregal two years ago was MidOcean Partners, a private equity firm established by Graham Clempson, former European head of Deutsche’s DB Capital Partners, and several Deutsche alums in 2002.
“I worked with Graham at Bankers Trust [which Deutsche purchased in 1999] and knew him very well,” says de Balmann, 58. “Chuck [Flynn] and I barely coincided, but he has a tremendous track record as a pioneer in fund-of-funds investing.” Clempson and de Balmann were both involved in the February 2003 management buyout of DB Capital, in which Bregal represented the Brenninkmeijers, whose fortune, chiefly from the C&A apparel stores, is estimated at E8 billion ($9.52 billion).
Last year Bregal, which has some E2.5 billion in assets, backed two middle-market private equity firms, London’s Englefield Capital and New York’s Centre Partners, with E650 million and E505 million, respectively. Flynn’s E750 million fund of funds will complement these investments. Such big direct investments “are very different from being a limited partner,” says de Balmann, who works from New York. “We really want to be involved on a daily basis.” Adds this onetime investment banker, “I just love private equity -- it’s deal making in its purest form.”
De Balmann: Deal making “in its purest form”
