Wilson joins Warburg Pincus

Peter Wilson has joined Warburg Pincus as a managing director to develop the global private equity firm’s push into European buyouts. The hire comes ahead of a US$8bn global investment fund, with a mandate to invest across all stages of private equity.

“This is another step in building up Warburg Pincus’ buyouts franchise in Europe. We are making a concerted effort to build our capabilities in this area,” Wilson told IFRBuyouts.

Wilson joined from Electra Partners and works alongside six other managing directors. These include Steve Coates, who joined Warburg Pincus in 2003 from Permira to head up the LBO group. The other London-based managing directors at Warburg are Dalip Pathak, overall head of the firm in Europe, Nick Lowcock, Joe Schull, Jeremy Young and John McIntosh.

Warburg Pincus currently has approximately US$9bn under management globally and an active portfolio of 125 companies. Its sweet spot is the upper middle market, although the firm does not rule out larger deals and club deals if it can find an angle. In Europe, it focuses on the healthcare, media and business services sectors, as well as CEE. Wilson’s specialities are industrials and business services.

“There is a strong restructuring story in Europe, as well as some cost plays through outsourcing that we feel we can exploit based on our franchise in India and China,” Wilson said.

At Electra, Wilson was a director and co-founder of the Electra European Fund and headed industrial investing. Prior to that, he was a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group.

The €630m buyout of Irish packaging company Clondalkin is among Warburg’s most significant investments. The company was acquired in February 2004 from investors led by Candover. Warburg invested from two funds, the US$2.5bn Warburg Pincus International Partners and the US$5.3bn Warburg Pincus PE VIII.