Damien, aged 38, joins the BlackFin buyout team as a Managing Director. He previously spent 11 years at Advent International, one of the largest global Private Equity platform, where he was Director and has participated to many mid- to large-cap transactions in France and in Europe, including Oberthur Technologies, a world leader in smartcard manufacturing and mobile payment solutions, Nocibé, merged with German firm Douglas to form a European leader in perfume and Cosmetics retailing, and Sportfive, Europe’s leading marketing sports right agency. Prior to that Damien was at BNP Paribas’ Leverage Finance team in Germany and at Idinvest Partners, a generalist venture capital firm. Damien graduated from the HEC business school.
Laurent Bouyoux, Managing Partner of BlackFin Capital Partners: “We are delighted to have Damien onboard. His experience and track-record will be highly valuable to our firm as we successfully position it to be the leading financial services investor in Europe. A profound reshaping of the financial industry, changes in regulations, an unprecedented cycle of low interest rates and new technologies are making a deep impact on the financial services sector and create unique investment opportunities that we are systematically exploring.”
Damien Lestang: “I am thrilled to join BlackFin to further expand their buyout team and set-up after the successful raise of BlackFin’s second fund in January 2016. The firm has built a unique investment franchise combining a deep industry knowledge and an entrepreneurial mindset.”