Edmond de Rothschild Capital Partners loses de Montgolfier and Fouque

Greg Gille
11 September 2013

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Managing partners Eric de Montgolfier and Erick Fouque have left French GP Edmond de Rothschild Capital Partners (ERCP), to be replaced by Bertrand Demesse and Louis-Antoine Roullier.

The Edmond de Rothschild Group also acquired the 40% ERCP stake previously held by de Montgolfier and Fouque, and now wholly owns the private equity arm.

Demesse and Roullier, previously partners at the firm, have been promoted to managing partners. They have been with ERCP since 2005 and 2008 respectively. It remains unclear what de Montgolfier and Fouque will do in the future – the duo will now "devote themselves to new entrepreneurial projects", Edmond de Rothschild said in a statement.

The move was motivated by strategic differences between the former managing partners and the Edmond de Rothschild Group, believed to be stemming from the group's strategy of focusing current fundraising efforts on its other private equity arm, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners (EdRip), which is expected to start raising capital for its Winch Capital 3 vehicle.

Given that the bank is often targeting the same clients for funds managed by EdRip and ERCP, it usually avoids simultaneous fundraising efforts and prioritises one of the two private equity arms based on their respective need for capital. While ERCP focuses on buyouts, EdRip specialises in venture and growth capital.

ERCP manages two funds, both sponsored by Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild Banque: Edmond de Rothschild LBO Fund, which closed on €210m in 2004; and Edmond de Rothschild LBO Fund II, which closed on €300m in 2007. ERCP usually backs LBOs valued in the €30-200m range with €10-60m equity tickets.

Now headed by Demesse and Roullier, ERCP will be looking to raise the third vehicle in its LBO Fund family at a later date. The GP will also work on developing new products likely to appeal to clients of the Edmond de Rothschild Group; these could include the development of a private debt activity, although Demesse and Roullier declined to comment further on this point for the time being.

The Edmond de Rothschild Group unveiled its new "2013-2016" private equity strategy earlier this year, with plans to raise €500m over the next four years and to increase assets under management to €1.3bn. This led to holding company Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity Partners taking a more active role in co-ordinating the group's unquoted investment strategy.