bd-capital has appointed Bram Grimmelt as Partner and Head of its Benelux investment activities.Established in 2019 by Richard Baker, former FTSE CEO and Chairman, and Andy Dawson, former Advent International Investment Partner, bd-capital is an operationally led private equity firm investing in pan-European mid-market businesses where changing patterns of consumer behaviour and technology disruption are creating growth opportunities.
Prior to joining bd-capital, Grimmelt was Head of Advent International in the Benelux. During his 14 years at the firm he worked out of the Amsterdam, London and Luxembourg offices and was involved in seven investments, including Delft Instruments, Nucletron, Mediq, UNIT4 and Ammeraal Beltech. He was a non-executive on the Board of three portfolio companies.
Grimmelt previously worked at Waterland Private Equity, in their Netherlands office. He started his career at Merrill Lynch in London, working in the European Leveraged Finance team.
At Advent and Waterland, Grimmelt invested across several sectors including Healthcare, Consumer & Retail, Services, Software and Industrials.
Bram says: “I think the bd-capital model of business leaders working closely together with investors will be a true differentiator in the Benelux mid-market. Few firms bring the international expertise and reach of bd-capital to this part of the mid-market and I am excited by the prospect of partnering with management teams and working alongside bd-capital’s team of business leaders to build great businesses together.”
Since launching in June 2019, the bd-capital team has now grown to 17 people, six of whom are former CEOs with experience of growing businesses in the European mid-market space.
Managing Partner at bd-capital, Andy Dawson, says: “Bram and I worked together for 14 years at Advent and I am very pleased to be working with him again at bd-capital. Bram has an impressive track record of investing in the Benelux and has built many strong partnerships in the region. In his role as a Founding Partner he will be a key contributor to our growth story over the coming years.”
