Gimv appoints Peter Maenhout to head its XL fund as well as to oversee its Belgian buyout and growth capital activities Gimv appoints Peter Maenhout to head its XL fund as well as to oversee its Belgian buyout and growth capital activities Gimv appoints Peter Maenhout to head its XL fund as well as to oversee its Belgian buyout and growth capital activities

Gimv appoints Peter Maenhout to head its XL fund as well as to oversee its Belgian buyout and growth capital activities

Peter Maenhout will join Gimv as Executive Vice President, becoming responsible for both the XL fund as well as the Belgian buyout and growth capital activities. Peter will start in his new function on 2nd March.

Peter Maenhout has been running the Benelux office for New York-based investment manager Amber Capital since October 2007. Prior to that, he was active in mergers & acquisitions and equity capital market transactions at Petercam (10 years) and Generale Bank (6 years). In his various functions he has been working closely together with management teams of both private and public companies, but also with their shareholders and entrepreneurs and this across a wide variety of industries in the Benelux. Maenhout is 43 years old and holds Master Degrees in International Relations (UG) and in Finance (Vlerick) as well as an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Gimv has been pioneering in buyouts and growth capital for small and mid-sized companies in the Belgian market and will continue to play a very active role.

The XL fund is a recent initiative of Gimv, aimed at growth companies in Flanders, with an enterprise value between EUR 75 and 750 million. The fund had an initial closing at EUR 500 million and intends to raise additional capital from other institutional shareholders later this year.

CEO Koen Dejonckheere, comments on this hiring: “I am very pleased to welcome Peter to our team. He is widely respected in the market for his sound business judgement of the financing, strategic and shareholder issues of growing companies. His experience and expertise will be of tremendous benefit to our team and our investee companies. This is an important step in the further roll-out of our XL fund.”

Peter Maenhout adds: “Today’s insecure markets create unique challenges and opportunities for companies and shareholders. Gimv has both the financial power and the know-how to assist companies in their growth aspirations and I am delighted to contribute to this.”