Warburg Pincus names Sibbald as Europe head, Obermann chair of European business

By Emma-Victoria Farr

LONDON (Reuters) - Global private equity equity firm Warburg Pincus, which was founded in the U.S., has named Andrew Sibbald sole head of Europe and Rene Obermann as chairman of the region, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Thursday.

Sibbald joined the firm from Evercore as co-head of Europe nine months ago and will be the first British national to lead the European business. As Europe co-head he worked with Obermann, who was the other co-head of the region and both men will continue working together.

Sibbald will lead day-to-day business for the financial investor's European activities. Obermann, who is also chairman of Airbus, will continue to advise on portfolio companies and new investments, according to the memo.

Warburg Pincus's recent European investments include Helsinki-based digital employee benefits firm Epassi and UK insurance company Specialist Risk Group, both valued around one billion pounds. Recent exits include selling Aion Bank and Vodeno to Unicredit, and Reiss to Next.

In June, Warburg Pincus announced the addition of two managing directors, including its first hire of a partner from outside the firm.

Last week, Warburg Pincus named veteran insider Jeffrey Perlman as its chief executive officer, in only the third generation of leadership for the private equity firm in its nearly 60-year history. Perlman succeeds Chip Kaye and will start in September.

Founded in 1966 in New York, Warburg Pincus was one of the first private equity funds to invest in Europe in 1983 and has invested in more than 140 companies across 26 countries. It has around $83 billion in assets under management globally. (This story has been refiled to clarify that Warburg Pincus is a global private equity firm in paragraph 1)

(Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr, editing by Jane Merriman)