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Charme Capital Partners launches in London
  • Milan-based Charme Capital Partners opens London office, partnering with Julian Huxtable, Christopher Fielding and Francisco Churtichaga, former Doughty Hanson executives
  • Charme Capital Partners combines an experienced European mid-market private equity team with leading institutional and industrialist backers
  • The London office will work alongside the existing team in Milan to invest Charme III, a closed-end fund

London, 18 November 2015: Matteo di Montezemolo, Founder and Managing Partner of the Charme Funds, announces the launch of Charme Capital Partners1 in London, with a team of senior former Doughty Hanson executives Julian Huxtable, Christopher Fielding and Francisco Churtichaga. The London team will invest Charme III working alongside the existing team in Milan, which has successfully deployed the Charme I and Charme II Funds.

Charme III, as with Charme I and Charme II, is backed by a strategic and longstanding group of institutional LPs, prominent global families and industrialists. Charme III’s exceptional investor base enhances the combined team’s deal pipeline.

Charme Capital Partners will target mid-market companies with an enterprise value between €100m and €500m. It will seek opportunities across a range of business sectors where it can partner with shareholders and management teams to unlock potential and deliver transformational growth, both organically and through M&A. This will allow companies to reinforce their market positioning and in many cases to expand internationally. Charme Capital Partners will invest across Europe from its Milan and London offices.

The London team have many years of combined experience in pan-European private equity, with a proven track record of investing in fast growing companies, working on successful realised investments such as Vue Entertainment in the UK, Quiron/USP Hospitales in Spain, and Tumi in the USA. In Italy, the Milan-based team, which has been in place since 2003, has generated strong returns through realised investments such as the Poltrona Frau Group and Octo Telematics.

Matteo di Montezemolo, Luigi Sala, Tommaso Beolchini and Simone Cavalieri will be joined on the Charme III Investment Committee by Julian Huxtable, Christopher Fielding and Francisco Churtichaga. Julian and Christopher will focus on the UK market based in London and Francisco will focus on Spain.

Matteo di Montezemolo said:

“We are delighted to welcome to Charme Capital Partners such an experienced team that have worked on many successful investments together over the years. With Julian and Christopher in the UK market, Francisco the Spanish market and the Milan team the Italian market, combined with the precious support of all our longstanding LP’s, we have the ideal platform and are now ready to invest Charme III, building on the success of Charme I and Charme II.”

Julian Huxtable, Christopher Fielding and Francisco Churtichaga, Partners of Charme Capital Partners, said:

“Charme Capital Partners offers a rare combination of proven mid-market specialism backed by some of the most respected industrialists in the world. With our investment experience and the deep local networks of our partners and investors, we believe we are ideally placed to source attractive opportunities in Europe and work together with ambitious management teams to grow companies internationally.”

Further announcements on the development of Charme Capital Partners, including additional team members, will be made in due course.


Media Contacts

Greenbrook Communications
Andrew Honnor, Alex Jones, Matthieu Roussellier
+44 (0)207 952 2000

Background to the Charme Funds

The Charme Funds were founded in 2003 by Luca and Matteo di Montezemolo and are backed by a unique mixture of institutional LPs and prominent global industrialists. Since inception the Charme Funds have raised capital of approximately €1bn and invested in companies with strong growth and internationalisation prospects.

Charme I, a €186m fund focused on investments in the consumer and luxury sector in Italy, was raised in 2003 and generated returns of 2.0x. Prominent investments include the Poltrona Frau Group, with a build-up strategy through the acquisitions of Poltrona Frau, Cassina and Cappellini to create the global leader in high-end design furniture.

Charme II was raised in 2009 with total commitments of €340m and generated returns of 2.5x. Prominent investments include Octo Telematics, world leader in the supply of telematics services for the insurance sector, and Bellco, which is active in the business of blood filtration for chronic, acute and newborn patients.

Charme III was launched in 2015 with a broader pan-European investment strategy focused on mid-market investments across a range of business sectors in Europe, with a particular focus on UK, Spain and Italy. It targets fast growing mid-market companies with an enterprise value of €100m to €500m, where it can partner with shareholders and management teams to unlock potential and deliver transformational growth, both organically and through M&A. This will allow companies to reinforce their market positioning and in many cases to expand internationally.

Charme Capital Partners will be based in London and in Milan: the senior team includes Matteo di Montezemolo, Luigi Sala, Tommaso Beolchini, Simone Cavalieri, Matteo Facoetti and former Doughty Hanson executives Julian Huxtable, Christopher Fielding and Francisco Churtichaga. It will manage Charme III, a closed-end private equity fund.


1Subject to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approval, Charme Capital Partners will become the investment manager of Charme III alongside the existing Italian management company.

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