Verdane announces Advisory Board to support firm’s continued growth

• Verdane has assembled an Advisory Board comprised of four highly experienced individuals: Nick Luckock, Martina Pfeifer, Niklas Savander and Jim Strang.
  
• The Advisory Board members each have a focused role in firm development and actively support Verdane as the firm continues to cement European mid-market leadership.
• This marks another milestone in an exceptional 20th year for Verdane;the firm recently announced the final close of the oversubscribed Freya XI fund at its €1.1 billion hard cap.

Verdane, the European specialist growth investment firm, has assembled an Advisory Board comprised of four highly experienced individuals representing four nationalities. Advisory Board members Nick Luckock, Martina Pfeifer, Niklas
Savander and Jim Strang will leverage their distinguished track records to actively support Verdane’s mission to be the preferred growth partner for ambitious European businesses digitalising and decarbonising the economy.

This announcement marks another milestone as Verdane continues to cement European mid-market leadership. Since launching in 2003, Verdane has consistently delivered excellent financial performance; realised investments have on average returned over three times cost. This track record has also been validated by third parties such as the HEC-Dow Jones performance ranking, which named Verdane the top performing investment firm in the European mid-market. Verdane recently announced the final close of the oversubscribed Freya XI at its €1.1 billion hard cap, doubling the size of its predecessor fund and securing over 100% re-up rate from LPs who committed to the predecessor fund.

The Advisory Board will leverage their deep industry expertise and networks to support the firm’s continuous development.

Nick Luckock joins as the Chair of the Advisory Board. Nick has worked in private equity for more than 20 years and was most recently a Partner and an investment committee member at Hg Capital, a private equity firm based in London with $65 billion in funds under management. Throughout his career in private markets, Nick has worked closely with management teams and taken an active role at Board level. Nick brings significant dealmaking and fundraising knowledge to Verdane, and has proven experience in strategy planning and execution at the GP level. Nick will help Verdane develop its investment processes and further strengthen its performance culture.

Martina Pfeifer has broad experience and expertise in investing in and scaling DACH-based companies, bringing deep insights into the market and region. Based in Frankfurt, Martina has worked as a Director at leading private equity firm Advent International for 15 years. Martina is an expert in digitalisation and the technology sector. She has invested in numerous technology companies and co-founded encourageventures e.V. Martina is also a member of the Level20 DACH committee, a non-profit organisation that seeks to improve gender diversity in the industry (Verdane was a founding member of Level20’s Nordic chapter). Verdane opened a second German office this year to expand its investment capabilities in the DACH region; Martina’s expertise will support this key strategic priority. Martina will also mentor high potential future leaders of Verdane.

Niklas Savander brings significant experience from supporting growth companies from a Chair position. He has chaired companies backed by 11 different investment firms, including serving as chair of EasyPark Group, Evondos, Silverfin, Cint, Nebula and Zervant. Prior to his career as investor and Chair, Niklas held senior leadership positions within Elekta AB and Nokia, two of the largest publicly listed companies in the Nordics. Niklas will lead Verdane’s Chair and Advisor program, a key strategic initiative.

Jim Strang, an experienced private markets investment professional and strategy consultant, enriches the Advisory Board with global Board and C-level expertise, notably from his tenure at Hamilton Lane, where he latterly served as Chairman of its operations in EMEA, and Bain & Company. Jim brings a unique understanding of private investing and client relationships. He will be the voice of the customer on the Verdane advisory board, bolstering Verdane’s client-centric strategy with a global lens.

Bjarne Kveim Lie, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Verdane commented : “We are excited to welcome Nick, Martina, Niklas and Jim to the Advisory Board and the extended Verdane team. At Verdane we pride ourselves on our ABL (always be learning) mindset, and we are eager to benchmark ourselves with, and learn from, their knowledge built over decades working at some of the global thought leaders in our industry. We are confident that their contributions will help make us an even better partner to ambitious growth companies positioned to succeed in a sustainable economy.”