• EQT opens office in Paris, France and strengthens footprint for the entire platform of business segments in continental Europe
   
• Nicolas Brugère, Partner in EQT Private Equity assumes the position as Head of EQT France – brings 14 years of experience from the French and European private equity industry
   
• Thomas Rajzbaum, Managing Director in EQT Infrastructure, joined EQT already in November last year and will lead the Infrastructure strategy
• The Paris team will support thematic investments across all EQT’s core sectors and strategies, and will initially consist of ten investment advisory professionals, including Rania Belkahia, Deal Partner in EQT Ventures and Sébastien Morizot, Director in EQT Real Estate

EQT today announced the opening of an office in Paris, France to strengthen the local footprint across EQT’s entire platform of business segments. The office will be led by Nicolas Brugère who joined EQT in January 2020 as Partner in the EQT Private Equity business line and now assumes the position as Head of EQT France. Nicolas, who is a French native, joins from his prior position as Partner at the European private equity firm PAI Partners, and he brings some 14 years of experience from the French and European private equity industry. The Infrastructure strategy will be led by Thomas Rajzbaum, Managing Director, who joined EQT in November 2019 and comes most recently from The Carlyle Group.

The opening of the Paris office is part of EQT’s global expansion path and strategy of launching existing strategies into new regions. With the newly opened office and a team of ten investment advisory professionals representing all EQT business lines locally, the ambition is to accelerate investment activities in France as well as support and develop existing local portfolio companies.

Christian Sinding, CEO and Managing Partner at EQT, said: “France is one of the largest markets for Private Markets investments in Europe and the expansion fortifies our commitment to continental Europe. The opening of the Paris office further demonstrates EQT’s ambitions to invest in, develop and future-proof French companies and is in line with our local-with-locals approach of having local feet on the ground across the countries and regions in which EQT invests. The team in Paris, with dedicated investment advisory professionals within Private Equity, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Ventures, is well-positioned to stay close to both the existing portfolio companies and to capture new opportunities in the region across all business segments.”

Nicolas Brugère, Partner and Head of EQT France, said: “I am honored by the trust that EQT has placed in me and I look forward to contributing to EQT’s expansion in France. There is plenty of activity in the French market and with a permanent office in place, with all EQT business lines represented, EQT is well-positioned to support attractive investments across strategies and sectors.”

EQT currently holds seven investments in France, including EQT Infrastructure’s leading drinking and wastewater management company, SAUR, EQT Ventures’ investments in CallDesk, an AI-powered virtual agent that autonomously handles repetitive phone calls so teleoperators can focus on more complex interactions, and TinyClues, an AI-driven customer marketing solution. Moreover, EQT Real Estate holds Smart Parc, Trideca and Concept, three Greater Paris office properties with combined gross development value in excess of EUR 400 million, and a 3,000-unit affordable and inclusive housing development program across France. EQT’s Paris office will initially consist of ten investment advisory professionals, including:

• Nicolas Brugère, Partner and Head of EQT France, EQT Private Equity, joined EQT in January 2020 from his previous position as Partner at the European private equity firm PAI Partners. Nicolas brings some 14 years of experience from the French and European private equity industry.
   
• Thomas Rajzbaum, Managing Director, EQT Infrastructure, joined EQT in November 2019 from The Carlyle Group where he focused on French and European private equity opportunities. Thomas will lead EQT’s French Infrastructure team and will target strong infrastructure assets with potential for operational value creation.
• Rania Belkahia, Deal Partner, EQT Ventures, joined the EQT Ventures team of former founders and operators in May 2020 from Afrimarket, a leading e-commerce platform in West Africa, where she was CEO and co-founder. There, she grew the team to more than 250 people, five subsidiaries and raised EUR 20 million.
• Sébastien Morizot, Director, EQT Real Estate, joined EQT in June 2020 from Colony Capital. He brings more than ten years real estate experience from the French and European markets. At EQT, Sébastien will focus on value-add real estate projects to create long-term institutional assets.

Contact
Nicolas Brugère, Partner and Head of EQT France, +33 1 8888 0643
French media inquiries: Brunswick Paris, eqtfrance@brunswickgroup.com, +33 6 79 99 27 15
International media inquiries: EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

About EQT
EQT is a differentiated global investment organization with a 25-year track-record of consistent investment performance across multiple geographies, sectors and strategies. With strong values and a distinct corporate culture, EQT manages and advises funds and vehicles that invest across the world with the mission to generate attractive returns to the fund investors.

EQT’s talent base and network allow it to pursue a thematic investment strategy and distinctive value creation approach, with the aim of future-proofing the companies which EQT invests in, creating superior returns to EQT’s investors and making a positive impact with everything EQT does.

EQT has more than EUR 62 billion in raised capital since inception, currently around EUR 40 billion in assets under management across 19 active funds within three business segments – Private Capital, Real Assets and Credit. EQT is a thought leader within the private markets industry with deep expertise in responsible and long-term ownership, corporate governance, operational excellence, digitalization and sustainability. EQT has offices in 17 countries across Europe, Asia Pacific and North America with more than 700 employees.

The EQT AB group comprises EQT AB (publ) and its direct and indirect subsidiaries, which include general partners and fund managers of EQT funds as well as entities advising EQT funds.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com
Follow EQT on Twitter and LinkedIn