Profile

Xenon Private Equity is an Alternative Investment Fund Manager authorized by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier in Lussemburgo following the European Directive 2011/61. The Xenon Private Equity team has accumulated three decades of experience in teaming up with family owned companies looking for operational support to manage transformation projects to spur growth, mainly via m&a, replace some shareholders or exploit transition opportunities.

We differentiate from plain financial investors because of a full commitment to act as co-owners and consider ourselves personally accountable for the steering of investee company operations. Like the business leaders with whom we partner, we have a passion for entrepreneurship. We take calculated risks and work for the best interests of the investee company and our investors, not the individuals.

The team comprises professionals with mainly industrial and operational backgrounds, that accrued their previous experience as equity investor only in connection with small to medium size companies. This diversity ensures a rich mix of ideas and skills that can be applied to each potential deal opportunity or value creation project. We pride ourselves in our ability to avoid “group thinking” and promote and process intellectual dissent. We offer to our business partners a clear value proposition: the potential to transform their companies into more competitive, international and profitable entities during our period of co-ownership. Along time we secured the long-term commitment of several high profile investors, only large foreign institutions, to support our investments in the Italian lower/mid-market: we acquire controlling interests or qualified minorities through equity investment of up to Euro 40 million, for larger amounts also thanks to co-investment agreements put in place with some of our Investors. In case possible investee companies are of smaller dimension we test their ability to reach Euro 10 million of Ebitda within 24 months through organic growth or a predefined bolt-on acquisition.
We believe that private equity is essentially a mix of mutual trust, capacity to actually execute the shared strategy and long- term orientation.

The AIFM manages each Fund in the interest of respective investors and therefore in a totally independent and autonomous way from other group companies. Investments and divestments are made (and the relevant participations are held) by the specific intermediate holding companies. Decisions over investments and exit, including the exercise of voting rights in investee company general shareholders’ meetings, are resolved by the board of the relevant holding company in an autonomous manner, independently from other group companies, following the applicable statutory and governance rules. The day by day management of each investee company is under the exclusive responsibility of the relevant board of directors and management.