Pictet Direct Private Equity | Capital for Entrepreneurs
We are a long-term investor with a mission to support European entrepreneurs, families and management teams accelerate the growth potential of their businesses.
What sets us apart
The notion of partnership is fundamental to our approach. We aim to work closely with the leadership teams of companies in which we invest, providing not only capital but also hands-on support to build leading businesses.
Our long-term mindset informs our identification of core themes and detailed investment theses that guide our sector focus.
We benefit from being part of the Pictet Group, which for more than 200 years has been building deep relationships with, and providing advice to, European entrepreneurs and family business owners.
We partner with family and entrepreneur-owned businesses in industries that will benefit from long-term secular growth, using our expertise to help them realise their full potential.
Our criteria
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Mid market
We typically invest equity amounts of €20-80 million into businesses with enterprise values up to €200 million. We invest into businesses with a track record of profitable growth and EBITDA of €3-15 million.
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Flexible capital
We have a flexible approach to deal structuring and typically take significant or controlling stakes in businesses that are co-owned with founders.
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Long-term value creation
We have a determined focus on long-term value creation and seek to hold investments for 6-8 years.
Our experience
We seek to work with entrepreneurs and management teams in a supportive and collaborative manner. We are active investors who have experience in building businesses internationally and provide patient support to portfolio companies.
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1989First private equity investment
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5500+Full-time equivalent employees
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763bn EURAssets under management or custody*
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220Years of partnering for the long-term
Our team
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Alexander Binzer, Vice-President
Alexander has 11 years’ experience working in DACH mid-market private equity and strategy consulting. He joined Pictet from Quadriga Capital in Frankfurt, where he was a Director in their Tech-Enabled Services sector team. Prior to that, he worked as a management consultant for Bain & Company in Munich. Alexander has a BSc in Management and Technology from the Technical University of Munich, and an MSc in Finance and Private Equity from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
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Andrzej Sokolowski, Head of UK
Andrzej’s experience spans over a decade of private equity investing in the UK and European middle market. Prior to joining Pictet, he was a Partner at Pamplona Capital Management leading business services and industrials, having previously also worked at Deutsche Bank in London. Andrzej has an MA (Oxon) in Modern Languages (French and Italian) from the University of Oxford.
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Aurelie Goupil, Vice-President
Aurelie Goupil joined the team as Vice-President for Investor Relations, bringing 15 years of experience across M&A and private equity in London. Prior to Pictet, she most recently worked at STAR Capital, where she helped the team develop its Investor Relations function, and prior to that at Montagu Private Equity in a project management role in Investor Relations. Aurelie has an MSc in Finance & Investments from Aston University and a Master’s in Management from Audencia Business School.
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Brendon Kortekaas, Head of Value Creation
Brendon has 19 years of experience working with businesses on commercial and operational value creation. He was previously a Principal in the Portfolio Operations team at Platinum Equity, based in London. He began his career in management consulting at Oliver Wyman and has a Master of Business Administration from London Business School.
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David Logcher, Vice-President
David has nearly a decade of experience working in European private equity and investment banking. He was previously a Vice President at Peak Rock Capital, investing in European mid-market businesses across multiple sectors, including food & beverage and industrials. Prior to that he worked in M&A advisory at Rothschild & Co in London, covering the Benelux region. David has a BSc in Economics and Business Economics and an MSc in Financial Economics (cum laude) from the Erasmus University Rotterdam.
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Edmund Buckley, Head of Direct Private Equity
With over 25 years’ experience in the European middle-market, Ed is passionate about working with entrepreneurs to fulfil their business’s potential. He has invested in multiple businesses in the UK, Germany and Belgium in the Education, Business Services and Industrial sectors. Prior to joining Pictet, he was a Managing Director at THI Investments where he led the private equity team. Earlier in his career he was a partner at Englefield (Bregal) Capital. He began his career in investment banking at Morgan Stanley and has an MA (Cantab) in History from the University of Cambridge.
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Esther Huber, Investment Professional
Esther joined Pictet from Rivean Capital, a pan-European mid-market private equity firm. Esther was a Senior Associate assessing opportunities across Switzerland and Austria.Esther has an MSc in Finance from ESADE and a BSc (Hons) in International Management from Warwick Business School.
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Hugo Hickson, Value Creation Principal
Hugo focuses on supporting portfolio companies with strategy, digitalisation, operational improvements, sales and pricing optimisation, and professionalisation of ESG. He joined Pictet from McKinsey & Company, bringing over 14 years’ experience of helping European businesses improve and grow. Prior to McKinsey, he worked at Procter & Gamble’s European headquarters, focusing on top-line growth, strategy and project management. Hugo has an MA (Cantab) in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge.
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Louis Maddison, Investment Professional
Louis joined us from Sun European Partners where he was an Associate in their London Private Equity team. Louis was responsible for deal origination, due diligence, deal execution and monitoring portfolio companies. Prior to that, he worked at Pamplona Capital Management in their London Private Equity team as an Associate. Before that, he started his career at Perella Weinberg Partners in the Industrials and UK M&A teams. He holds a Master of Biochemistry from the University of Oxford.
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Nikolaus Hubmann, Head of DACH
Nikolaus has extensive private equity investing and operating experience in the European mid market, with expertise predominately across Industrials and Services in DACH but also the UK and Belgium. Nikolaus was previously Principal at Sun European Partners LLP, the European advisor to US-based Sun Capital Partners Inc, a global private equity firm. Prior to that, he worked in investment banking at Deutsche Bank in both London and Frankfurt. He has a Master’s degree in International Business Administration & Chinese from the Vienna University of Economics and Business.
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Sean Howard, Principal
Sean brings a broad skillset across European private equity M&A and strategy consulting. He was previously a vice president at Ares Management, having worked earlier in his career at Barclays Investment Bank and KPMG. Sean has a BSc in Sport & Exercise Science with first-class honours from the University of Bath.
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Yannick Polysius, Investment Professional
Yannick joined Pictet from Boston Consulting Group, where he was a Project Leader in the Private Equity and Principal Investors practice, focusing on commercial due diligence and strategy engagements for private equity clients. Yannick started his career at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom and previously studied Law at EBS University.
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Our investments
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Company profile: Pareto is an award-winning provider of technical building-management services, primarily consisting of the compliance-driven or business-critical maintenance of mechanical and electrical assets. It serves customers across a range of sectors, managing a mixture of commercial offices and highly complex and unique estates (such as zoological sites). The company is currently UK focused, but with a track record of expanding operations internationally (including in Ireland, Canada, Malta, Bulgaria and Romania).
Investment thesis: Pareto operates in a market that is large and growing, but fragmented. This market is highly resilient to economic cycles, as revenues are largely driven by statutory requirements on building standards or by services deemed business critical. Within the market, Pareto has a differentiated brand due to its ESG initiatives and social inclusion, and is recognised for its quality of service. The fragmentation of the market offers the potential to pursue complementary accretive deals.
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Company profile: TSG is a Microsoft and cloud-focused UK managed IT services provider. Its offering encompasses Cloud & Managed Services, Business Applications and Cybersecurity, with a focus on the Microsoft software ecosystem. TSG serves 1,300 UK customers nationally across a variety of industries from offices in London, Newcastle and Glasgow, and has been voted one of the top 50 technology companies to work for in the UK.
Investment thesis: TSG operates in large, growing and defensible market driven by long-term trends around cloud penetration and business process digitisation. TSG benefits from strong growth, a high proportion of recurring revenue, and customers who value its service quality and technical expertise. We see significant potential to increase TSG’s growth organically and via M&A, including solution areas in Azure, Dynamics and Cybersecurity, as well as accelerating deployment of AI capabilities. TSG’s management team is highly experienced and entrepreneurial, and the investment fits within our focus areas of digitalisation and B2B services.
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Company profile: Keller Früchte + Gemüse (“KFG”) is a leading value-add distributor of ultra-fresh fruits & vegetables in Switzerland. KFG provides a high-quality product range with a special emphasis on ready-to-cook products to a diversified customer base that includes restaurants, hotels, and catering companies. Customers value the high service levels, which are enabled by digitalised processes and next-day delivery out of the state-of-the-art production site in Sins (Aargau) with KFG’s own logistic fleet.
Investment thesis: KFG operates in a growing, resilient, and protected market. It is characterised by high barriers to entry, recurring demand, and service quality being prioritised over price. The company’s operational excellence, structural advantages and high service levels have won it a market-leading reputation and loyal customer base. We partnered with the founder to support the company during its next stage of growth. Together we will focus on continuing to serve its clients and accelerating customer growth organically and via selected acquisitions.
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Company profile: Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Wehrheim, Germany, QGroup has been a recognised provider of cybersecurity architectures, incident response services, managed security services and highly secure operating models for more than three decades. The company operates globally, serving clients with the highest security requirements – particularly in critical infrastructure (including KRITIS), government and public sector, as well as security-sensitive private sector and industrial settings.
Investment thesis: QGroup operates in the growing cybersecurity market, where continuously rising threat levels and expanding regulatory requirements serve as long-term growth drivers. The company provides mission-critical services to a broad range of public and private sector clients with high security needs, supporting resilient demand across economic cycles. Within the cybersecurity landscape, QGroup is recognised for its high quality of service and innovation capabilities. Given its strong market position, we partnered with the founders to further accelerate its growth trajectory and enhance its service offering and geographic reach through both organic initiatives and synergistic acquisitions.
Read more about QGroup
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Company profile: Tretor AG is a leading provider of accounting services based in Liestal and Basel, serving northwestern Switzerland. The company serves over 1,000 clients with a broad offering covering bookkeeping, payroll, audit, tax, and advisory services. Tretor’s team of certified professionals has built a reputation for reliability and fostered long-standing, trusted client relationships.
Investment thesis: Tretor AG operates in the attractive and highly fragmented Swiss accounting services market, presenting significant consolidation opportunities. Accounting services are mission-critical, non-cyclical, and benefit from high revenue visibility due to recurring, long-tenured client relationships. Tretor provides a sizable entry point into this market, with best-in-class utilisation rates and technology adoption. Our platform strategy aims to build the leading SME-focused accounting services group in Switzerland by executing a proven international consolidation playbook. We are partnering with Tretor’s experienced management team, who share our growth ambitions to expand the group’s presence across German-speaking Switzerland through regional hubs and targeted add-on acquisitions.
Our commitment to sustainability
Our approach of long-term partnership means that sustainability is essential. We help management teams operate and grow in an environmentally sustainable and responsible manner, which we expect to create long-term value for all shareholders and stakeholders.
