General Atlantic Opens Munich Office

Global growth investor General Atlantic has opened a new office in Munich, Germany led by principal Jörn Nikolay. General Atlantic opened its first European office in 1998 and has invested over 2.5 billion euros ($3.3 billion) to support the growth of Europe-based companies since then.

PRESS RELEASE

General Atlantic (“GA”), a leading global growth investor, today announced the opening of a new office in Munich, Germany led by Principal Jörn Nikolay. GA opened its first European office in 1998 and has invested over 2.5 billion euros ($3.3 billion) to support the growth of nearly three dozen European-based companies since then.

Founded in 1980 General Atlantic partners with entrepreneurs and management teams of growth companies, often as a minority shareholder. Recent investments in Europe include Axel Springer Digital Classifieds, an online classifieds business headquartered in Germany; FNZ, a wrap platform provider to life and investment firms based in the UK; Klarna, a pan-European market-leading ecommerce payment platform based in Sweden; and Studio Moderna, a leading direct-to-consumer market services company in Central and Eastern Europe, headquartered in Slovenia. The Munich office replaces GA’s current German operations in Düsseldorf.
Bill Ford, CEO of General Atlantic, commented, “We are excited by the continued opportunity in Europe for innovative, high-growth companies serving geographically diversified markets, and about our new presence in Munich with Jörn’s leadership.”
John Bernstein, a Managing Director of General Atlantic and head of its European business, said, “Munich’s standing as a major hub for growth businesses in Germany, with many excellent universities in an economically vibrant region, makes it a smart location from which to support our current German and European investment program.”
Added Jörn Nikolay, “In spite of challenging economic conditions in Europe we continue to find excellent growth companies in Germany and across Europe with which GA can invest and partner to achieve their global growth objectives. We feel that our long term investment horizon coupled with our experience as a minority investor resonates especially well in Germany.”
About General Atlantic
With €14 billion in capital under management, General Atlantic invests approximately €1.5 billion annually in growth equity capital on a global basis, typically from €40 million to €400 million per investment. General Atlantic has supported the growth of global market leaders such as BAAN (Netherlands), SaxoBank (Denmark), Privalia (Spain), Markit (UK), Lenovo (China), NYSE Euronext (USA), BM&FBovespa (Brazil), E*Trade (USA) and Priceline.com (USA).
General Atlantic has more than 75 investment professionals based in Greenwich, New York, Singapore, Palo Alto, London, Munich, Hong Kong, Beijing, Mumbai and São Paulo. For further information and a listing of GA’s public and private portfolio companies, see www.generalatlantic.com.

Media Contacts:

Pat Hedley
General Atlantic
Greenwich, Connecticut, United States
+1 203-629-8658
phedley@generalatlantic.com

Shona Prendergast or Robert Roessler
MHP Communications
Direct Dial: +44 (0)20 3128 8584
Tel: +44 (0)20 3128 8100
shona.prendergast@mhpc.com or robert.roessler@mhpc.com

Adam Weiner or Peter Hill
Kekst and Company
New York, New York, United States
+ 1 212-521-4800
adam-weiner@kekst.com or peter-hill@kekst.com