- Olivier Le Gall joins Andera Expansion’s team to raise the third fund of the management company’s small-cap activity, Andera Expansion 3
- Gontran Duchesne joins the Andera Croissance team as Director
- Andera Acto welcomes three account managers
- The management company signs a partnership to develop a co-investment activity
With a goal of reaching €4-5 billion in assets under management by 2025, Andera Partners is pursuing its strategy of organic growth and targeted integration of specialized teams, and today announced a significant strengthening of the structure.
Andera Expansion welcomes Oliver Le Gall as partner
As part of the ongoing fundraising of its €220m Andera Expansion 3 fund, Andera Partners welcomes Olivier Le Gall as a Partner in Andera Expansion, its dedicated smallcap investment team. With more than 25 years of experience in private equity in France and Europe, mainly in small-midcap transactions, successively at 3i, TCR Capital, EPF Partners and now Apax Development, Olivier’s arrival will help accelerate the deployment of the Andera Expansion 3 fund, and prepare the next round of funding in the best possible conditions.
Olivier Le Gall (52 years old – IEP Paris – ESCP Europe) began his career at Crédit Lyonnais in Shanghai, then worked for 17 years at 3i in Paris where he led and managed more than twenty investments in consumer goods (Proteika, Senoble, Refresco), digital (Seloger. com, Empruntis.com), real estate (Lamy-Gestrim), industry (Dirickx, Newtec), and B2B distribution (Soyaconcept, Carpentras-Brevidex). Appointed as a partner in 2008, he completed and followed 3i investments in the Netherlands, UK and Denmark, then joined TCR Capital in 2012 to develop the buyout smallcap fund France Transmission I. In 2014, he joined EPF Partners, now Apax Development, where he participated in the raising of the Apax Development Fund, and made investments in Teknimed and Nelite.
Olivier Le Gall, Partner at Andera Expansion, comments: “I was attracted both by Andera Partners’ entrepreneurial project and by Andera Expansion’s roadmap. They are fund sizes that I like, with a multi-sector approach, within a fast-growing platform. In addition, Mayeul, David and I have known each other for a long time. I am delighted that we are working together to develop Andera Expansion.”
Andera Expansion makes equity investments in small and medium-sized companies located in France and neighboring countries with revenues between €10M and €150M. The team now consists of nine people, including three partners, and is expected to be strengthened in the near future with the arrival of new employees.
Andera Croissance welcomes Gontran Duchesne as director
The Andera Croissance team has also been strengthened by the arrival of Gontran Duchesne as Director. His arrival strengthens the existing team, alongside David Robin, Partner, Marianne Harlé, Director, Thibault Menel, Associate and Thomas Guyenot, Analyst, in the deployment of the Andera Croissance fund.
Gontran Duchesne (48 years old – CentraleSupélec, HEC) has over 20 years of experience in private equity. Before joining Andera Partners, Gontran Duchesne started as an engineer in France and in the US in expert systems. He joined private equity in 2000 at Edmond de Rothschild for six years, before participating in the development of CIC LBO Partners from 2006 to 2016. He then contributed to the deployment of Pechel IV from 2017 to 2021.
“I am pleased to join the Andera Partners team, which is a solid and recognized platform in France in non-listed management. More specifically, the Andera Croissance team is dedicated to helping fine French SMEs reach a new level in their development. I look forward to contributing to this”, says Gontran Duchesne.
The Andera Croissance team makes equity investments in French SMEs with revenues of between €5 million and €30 million. The team is now composed of 5 people including a partner and two directors.
The Andera Acto team welcomes three new collaborators
After the appointment of Christine Martinovic as Director in May 2021, the Andera Acto team continues to grow and welcomed three new members during the summer.
Fadwa Dardar (Toulouse Business School) joins Andera Acto as a Junior Associate. Fadwa previously worked as a Senior Consultant in the Transaction Services & Restructuring team of Eight Advisory since 2017. She also worked for two years as an analyst at Air Liquide.
Nicolas Aftimos (Université Paris-Dauphine; Toulouse School of Economics) joins Andera Acto as a Senior Associate, after 5 years at Rothschild & Co as a Senior Assistant Director. He previously worked for Degroof Petercam for 3 years and acquired various experiences at Grant Thornton and CM-CIC Capital Finance.
Antoine Guérillon (Neoma BS) joins Andera Acto as a Junior Account Manager, after 3 years spent at CIC Private Debt as an Account Manager. Previously, he had several experiences in funds, notably at Qualium Investissement and LGT Private Debt.
The Andera Acto team now includes 12 investors, including 3 partners.
Andera Partners continues to develop its range of activities
In addition, Andera Partners continues to pursue its growth strategy through the diversification of its activities and, in this respect, has entered into a partnership with AXL Capital Partners to launch a co-investment activity, particularly for its private clients. AXL Capital Partners is an advisory firm recently created by two professional investors, Louis Hamon and Alexander Cuniasse, accompanied by Nicolas Paulmier as Senior Advisor. Louis and Alexander previously led Essling Capital’s co-investment activity and together have over 20 years of experience in the co-investment segment alongside European and North American GPs.
Sylvain Charignon and Raphaël Wisniewski, Managing Partners of Andera Partners, commented: “Our investment activity has increased significantly in recent months and we have several rounds underway and more to come very soon. This significant reinforcement will allow us to accelerate the deployment of our latest vintages and those to come, to provide more and more support to the management teams that we accompany, but also to meet the AUM objectives that we have set for ourselves by 2025. These recruitments were essential and we are delighted to welcome these new employees to our staff.”
As of September 1, 2021, Andera Partners has a total of 86 employees, including 57 investors, 17 of whom are partners.