European private equity firm IK Partners has added five partners across its Paris and Amsterdam offices. Onne Tjerkstra and Xavier Lemonnier have been appointed partners within the investment team, while Jakob Treffers, Jérôme Richard, and David Varet have been appointed partners within the operations team.
Tjerkstra becomes partner within the small cap investment team based in Amsterdam. He joined IK in 2019 and has worked on transactions across Benelux with specialist knowledge of the business services sector. Treffers joined in 2020 and becomes partner within the operations team, based predominantly in Amsterdam. He draws on operational experience focused on commercial improvement and lean projects when supporting portfolio companies through the active ownership period of an investment.
The appointments of Lemonnier, Richard, and Varet come as part of an advisory arrangement with Wendel. The group is IK’s majority shareholder and one of Europe’s leading listed investment firms. In place since 1 January 2026, the new agreement sees IK advising Wendel’s direct private investment activities via the establishment of Wendel Principal Investments (WPI), which comprises existing and future upper-mid cap control investments in private companies that remain arranged and managed under Wendel’s control.
To ensure continuity in portfolio management, WPI will be supported by a new team within IK, comprising former Paris-based Wendel employees. The team will be led by Lemonnier who, prior to becoming partner at IK, was a managing drector at Wendel, having joined in 2018. He and the WPI team will be supported by Guillaume Veber, a director within IK’s existing mid cap investment team.
Initially, WPI will encompass six existing investments and is designed to support Wendel’s ability to identify, execute, and manage upper-mid cap opportunities in accordance with its investment strategy. IK says that benefits include increased growth and development opportunities, as well as an enhanced co-investment offering for its longstanding investor base.
