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Permira has named new leaders as part of a succession plan that will put two top dealmakers in charge of the private equity group that holds €80bn in assets.
The London-based firm, one of Europe’s largest buyout groups, said Brian Ruder and Dipan Patel would become co-chief executives in September, succeeding Kurt Björklund who has steered a revival of the business since becoming its co-managing partner in 2008.
Björklund led Permira alongside Tom Lister before becoming the group’s sole leader in 2021 after Lister’s retirement. The duo led a revival of growth at Permira after it became one of the largest private equity groups to be stung by the 2008 financial crisis.
Permira’s near €10bn flagship fund raised in 2006 was one of the industry’s largest pools of cash but significant markdowns during the crisis scared many investors, with a successor fund only achieving about half its size.
During the crisis, Permira updated its investment team, hiring new dealmakers including Ruder and Patel, who joined the group in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
Under new leadership Permira has returned to growth, with its fund sizes increasing in recent years and its overall investment operations roughly tripling in size since 2008.
Ruder helped build Permira’s technology-oriented investments, working on large takeovers of software groups including cyber security group McAfee as well as software makers Informatica and Zendesk.
Patel has in recent years overseen Permira’s investments in the consumer sector, working on large deals such as the recent €14bn take-private of Adevinta, a Norwegian online classifieds company that was last year’s second-largest private equity takeover. Permira has also recently taken shoemaker Dr Martens public and is preparing to list luxury sports brand Golden Goose in Italy.
The two dealmakers will oversee a privately held investment group whose growth has accelerated as it has diversified its investment operations beyond buyouts and into credit-orientated strategies.
Permira raised €16.7bn in March last year for its eighth flagship fund, exceeding its €15bn target. The fund has already made 10 investments, including distressed debt reporting and analysis company Reorg and software group Squarespace.
Its credit operations now manage about €20bn of assets and have financed more than 300 businesses in Europe.
Björklund, who will become executive chair, said the succession “begins the next chapter in our long history of successfully evolving our leadership and reflects our commitment to careful stewardship of the firm”.
“It is a privilege to be the next leaders of Permira, a firm that has been shaped by the thoughtful guidance of Kurt and the Managing Partners before him,” added Ruder and Patel in a press release.
Additional reporting by Ivan Levingston in London
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