Flexstone Partners completes 100th co-investment

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Zurich, November 26, 2020 – Flexstone Partners (“Flexstone”), an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, has completed its 100th co-investment as it continues to expand its global, mid -market co-investment practice.

Flexstone has committed €6.3m and reserved a significant amount of additional capital to support the next phase of growth of Pastas Gallo, alongside ProA Capital.

Pastas Gallo was founded by a Spanish entrepreneur and has become the market leader for dry pasta sales in Spain. It also sells pasta sauces, flours and breadcrumbs and is currently expanding into the ethnic dry chilled food market to tap growing demand for chilled ready meals.

Zélie Saint-Zéby, an investment Director in Flexstone’s Geneva office, commented: “Pastas Gallo is a sweet spot mid cap investment for Flexstone, alongside one of Spain’s most successful managers. The company is a hidden gem with great production facilities and, according to our analysis, has the potential to add plenty of value. It is a family business where management can be strengthened and there are multiple levers of value creation including the development of the brand and launch of new categories, sometimes through acquisitions.”

Specific due diligence was conducted by an independent and specialized advisor to assess environmental, social and governance risks associated with the activities and production facilities of Pastas Gallo.

With over 100 co-investments completed since 2008, Flexstone Partners has demonstrated the strength of its global investment platform by increasing its capacity to access attractive private companies backed by small and middle market buyout and growth managers through its network of local offices in the US, Europe and Asia.

“Our co-investment approach is based on decades of investment experience, a large deal pipeline and a systematic, data driven selection process. Over time, based on our experience as well as academic research, we have developed and refined a proprietary “Sweet Spot” selection tool which, together with our detailed due diligence process explains the success of our co-investment practice”, said Eric Deram, Managing Partner at Flexstone.

Flexstone’s co-investing philosophy focuses on providing increased exposure to high conviction managers in their core areas of expertise in terms of core sectors, geographies, type of deals, or investment size bracket.

“This framework is a key element to strengthening our GP relationships and to delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns through negative selection risk mitigation”, continues Eric Deram.

Flexstone’s outstanding co-investment track-record shows the quality of its deal flow and the strength of its investment selection process. Out of 100 co-investments completed since 2008, 38 are fully realized, generating an attractive risk & return performance with a combined 3.0x multiple of invested capital, a 34% gross IR and a loss ratio of 3.4%1.

“All our mature co-investment vehicles rank first quartile in their category. In particular, our first quartile DPIs show our ability to deploy our clients’ capital and distribute profits in a time efficient manner”, concludes Eric Deram.

1 Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Investing in a fund involves significant risks, including loss of all your investment

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Press contact:

Mischa Vajda
Voxia communication
mischa.vajda@voxia.ch
41 43 344 98 50

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About Flexstone Partners
Flexstone Partners (“Flexstone”)1, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, is a leading investment solutions provider in private assets with a global reach and local footprints in New York, Paris, Geneva, and Singapore. It specializes in the selection of private equity, private debt, real estate, and infrastructure fund managers for investment by Flexstone’s clients. Flexstone manages primary and secondary investments as well as co-investments. Flexstone’s expertise is distinguished by a high flexibility in building customized portfolios that are tailored to the unique needs and constraints of each investor whether institutional or private individual2. Flexstone offers a large range of services, from advising on private assets portfolio construction to the management of fully discretionary separate accounts and funds of funds. Flexstone, with more than 40 professionals, manages $7.8 billion3. It is a majority owned subsidiary of Natixis Investment Managers, one of the largest investment managers worldwide.
Further information: www.flexstonepartners.com

1 – Flexstone is the name that collectively identifies Flexstone and its underlying companies.
2 – Under certain conditions related to marketing and prospection regulatory requirements specific to each entity.
3 – Source: Flexstone Partners at 6/30/2020. Assets under management and advisory made up of commitments for closed-end private placement funds, and sum of Net Asset Value and unfunded commitments otherwise.

About Natixis Investment Managers
Natixis Investment Managers serves financial professionals with more insightful ways to construct portfolios. Powered by the expertise of more than 20 specialized investment managers globally, we apply Active Thinking® to deliver proactive solutions that help clients pursue better outcomes in all markets. Natixis Investment Managers ranks among the world’s largest asset management firms1 with nearly $1.1 trillion assets under management2 (€910.0 billion).
Headquartered in Paris and Boston, Natixis Investment Managers is a subsidiary of Natixis. Listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, Natixis is a subsidiary of BPCE, the second-largest banking group in France. Natixis Investment Managers’ affiliated investment management firms include AEW; Alliance Entreprendre; AlphaSimplex Group; DNCA Investments3; Dorval Asset Management; Flexstone Partners; Gateway Investment Advisers; H2O Asset Management; Harris Associates; Investors Mutual Limited; Loomis, Sayles & Company; Mirova; MV Credit; Naxicap Partners; Ossiam; Ostrum Asset Management; Seeyond; Seventure Partners; Thematics Asset Management; Vauban Infrastructure Partners; Vaughan Nelson Investment Management; Vega Investment Managers4; and WCM Investment Management. Additionally, investment solutions are offered through Natixis Investment Managers Solutions, and Natixis Advisors offers other investment services through its AIA and MPA division. Not all offerings available in all jurisdictions.
For additional information, please visit Natixis Investment Managers’ website at im.natixis.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/natixis-investment-managers. Natixis Investment Managers’ distribution and service groups include Natixis Distribution, L.P., a limited purpose broker-dealer and the distributor of various U.S. registered investment companies for which advisory services are provided by affiliated firms of Natixis Investment Managers, Natixis Investment Managers S.A. (Luxembourg), Natixis Investment
Managers International (France), and their affiliated distribution and service entities in Europe and Asia.

1 Cerulli Quantitative Update: Global Markets 2020 ranked Natixis Investment Managers as the 17th largest asset manager in the world based on assets under management as of December 31, 2019.
2 Assets under management (“AUM”) as of September 30, 2020 is $1,067.3 billion. AUM, as reported, may include notional assets, assets serviced, gross assets, assets of minority-owned affiliated entities and other types of non-regulatory AUM managed or serviced by firms affiliated with Natixis Investment Managers.
3 A brand of DNCA Finance.
4 A wholly-owned subsidiary of Natixis Wealth Management.

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