New LP Essling Capital spins out from Massena Partners

The new entity was set up and is owned by Massena founder Frank Noël-Vandenberghe and Michele Mezzarobba, who had joined Massena in 2015 as a partner to head up the firm's non-listed activities. Noël-Vandenberghe is a partner in the new entity, while Mezzarobba is president.

Private equity was a significant part of Massena's strategy prior to the spinout, accounting for around €1bn of the firm's €2bn in assets under management. This portfolio will now be managed by Essling, which will also launch new products in order to attract new investors. The new entity aims to double these assets under management within the next two years.

Speaking to unquote", Mezzarobba said that while commercialising its first co-investment fund in 2016, the private equity team was encouraged to spin out to avoid conflicts of interest between wealth management firm Massena and investors from the banking and institutional spaces.

Massena will remain a cornerstone investor in Essling's products, but the new LP will also look to pursue a platform strategy to appeal to diverse investors looking for a diversified non-listed exposure. This will notably mean a move away from the deal-by-deal investment approach previously favoured while part of Massena.

To that end, Essling will also look to manage dedicated mandates on behalf of institutional investors in the short term.

Having recently secured authorisation from French regulator AMF, Essling manages assets for clients across a range of non-listed asset classes, including primary and secondary funds-of-funds, secondaries, co-investments, real estate and non-listed debt.

With its co-investment fund raised last year, Essling chose to favour quick deployment in order to appeal to investors; the vehicle has a 12-month investment period and will not charge fees during that time.

According to unquote" data's profile of Massena, the firm's private equity team considered investing across Europe, North America and Asia. Investments in private equity are diversified across a broad range of strategies including buyouts, debt, growth capital, early-stage, distressed and turnaround.

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• Topics
• LPs
• France
• Funds-of-Funds
• France
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