NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, announced today the expansion of its senior leadership team with the promotions of Gabriel Caillaux, Martín Escobari and Anton Levy to Co-Presidents. In these newly-created roles, Messrs. Caillaux, Escobari and Levy will work closely with Chief Executive Officer Bill Ford in leading the firm’s strategy and will assume greater responsibility for the global investment program and investor engagement. Bill Ford will continue to lead the firm as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Management Committee.
With $35 billion in assets under management, General Atlantic is currently invested in more than 110 growth companies around the world, with more than half of its portfolio outside of the United States and more than one-third in emerging markets. Mr. Caillaux leads the firm’s business in EMEA, Mr. Escobari serves as Chairman of the Investment Committee and leads the firm’s Latin American investing activities, and Mr. Levy leads the firm’s Technology investing activities globally. Collectively, they have spent more than four decades at General Atlantic.
Bill Ford, Chief Executive Officer, commented: “As we have developed our global growth investing strategy and grown our investor base, our business has achieved greater scale and complexity. To maintain our momentum, we believe that now is the right time to expand our senior leadership team. I am convinced that digital disruption, growth in the emerging markets and the rise of entrepreneurship will continue to expand our global opportunity set. Our Co-Presidents will help us capture such opportunities and continue to deliver attractive returns to our investors. The broadening of our senior leadership team will also enable me to further focus on our long-term strategy and our growing Asia business, while spending more time deepening our strategic capital relationships.”
He continued: “Gabe, Martín and Anton are talented investors, impactful leaders and true business builders. They bring expertise in diverse regions and are representative of our deep bench of talent across General Atlantic. I am thrilled to be able to work even more closely with them in the years ahead.”
General Atlantic’s Management Committee will continue to serve as the governing body for the partnership, with a focus on operational and strategic decision making. The Management Committee includes Sandeep Naik, Head of India and Southeast Asia, and Graves Tompkins, Global Head of Capital Partnering and Human Capital, in addition to Messrs. Ford, Escobari, Caillaux and Levy.
General Atlantic pioneered growth equity investing, and the firm has maintained a singular focus on this strategy, identifying companies with high growth potential around the world and helping them scale. General Atlantic was founded nearly 40 years ago by Chuck Feeney, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who built a global business and had a vision to create a direct investing entity that helped other entrepreneurs build great businesses. Since then, the firm has deployed more than $34 billion in over 360 companies globally, partnering with founders who are creating and transforming industries, in order to deliver consistent risk-adjusted performance for its capital partners. The firm expects to have a capital base of $16 billion by the end of 2019.
Mr. Caillaux commented: “We’re incredibly energized by the entrepreneurs we engage with around the world, and I believe that investing on the local level from our established global platform delivers tangible benefits for those who partner with us. I look forward to working with Bill, Martín and Anton as we continue to build General Atlantic together to achieve the firm’s long-term ambitions.”
Mr. Escobari commented: “Over the firm’s 40-year history, General Atlantic has taken a thoughtful, long-term view on our business strategy and structure to best pave the way for sustained growth. I am honored to build on that legacy as we continue to expand our investing activities across sectors and regions, particularly in the emerging markets, which continue to have immense potential as the primary drivers of global growth in the future.”
Mr. Levy commented: “We see on a daily basis how the adoption of technology and transformative power of data are shaping not just individual businesses, but whole industries. General Atlantic is at the forefront of this as we seek to bring insights from around the world to our local partners, and we believe innovation is rapidly accelerating. We’re excited to work with some of the best entrepreneurs in the world as they harness the power of technology.”
In addition, the firm announced that Tom Murphy, Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer, will retire at the end of the year after 25 years with the firm. He will be succeeded by Michael Gosk, who joined General Atlantic as an Operating Partner earlier this year. Prior to that, Mr. Gosk spent over a decade with General Electric in a series of financial leadership roles, most recently serving as Chief Tax Officer. Before his time at GE, he was a partner at the global law firm McDermott Will & Emery and a partner at KPMG.
Gabriel Caillaux
Gabriel Caillaux has been with General Atlantic for 15 years and became Head of the firm’s business in EMEA in 2017. Mr. Caillaux has helped expand the firm’s investment focus across the greater European region to include Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Since the beginning of 2017, he has led the EMEA team in investing $2.2 billion in that region and generating $4.4 billion in liquidity. He is also a member of the firm’s Management and Investment Committees. Before joining General Atlantic, Mr. Caillaux worked in the telecoms, media and technology division at Merrill Lynch in London and New York.
Martín Escobari
Martín Escobari is Head of General Atlantic’s business in Latin America, Chairman of the Investment Committee and member of the Management Committee. Previously, Mr. Escobari was a Managing Director at Advent International, where he focused on financial services. Prior to that, he was Co-Founder and CFO of Submarino.com, a leading Brazilian online retailer that went public on the Bovespa and was sold to Lojas Americanas in 2006. His background as an entrepreneur has rendered him a natural partner to founders during his seven years with General Atlantic.
Anton Levy
Anton Levy is Global Head of General Atlantic’s Technology sector. He has been with the firm for 21 years and serves on the firm’s Management and Investment Committees. He has been a driving force in General Atlantic’s investments in leading technology companies such as Alibaba, CrowdStrike, Facebook, Slack and Snapchat. He has also been key to the expansion of the firm’s investment footprint in Asia. Mr. Levy has been named to the Forbes Midas List of top investors each year from 2014 to 2019. Before joining General Atlantic in 1998, Anton was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley where he focused on the technology sector.
About General Atlantic
General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. Established in 1980, General Atlantic combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to build exceptional businesses worldwide. General Atlantic has more than 150 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Greenwich, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, São Paulo, Shanghai, and Singapore. The firm has $35 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2019. For more information on General Atlantic, please visit the website: www.generalatlantic.com.
