Young geniuses manage 42 billion euros.

The meeting with Antoine Flamarion, co-founder and co-managing director of Tikehau Capital, is scheduled at the management company's office on Monceau Street in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, in the "Golden Triangle" area between the Champs-Élysées, Montaigne, and George V avenues. This area is home to companies from the finance and luxury sectors.

Since its founding in 2004 and the opening of its franchise in Brussels in 2015, Antoine Flamarion is hosting the Belgian media in Paris for the first time. "Tikehau is the most remarkable entrepreneurial adventure in the Parisian financial industry," wrote the French newspaper Les Échos in June 2022 in a lengthy article dedicated to this unusual French "success story." "Tikehau, the rocket of the French financial industry, aims for the highest goals," was stated in the L'Express issue on the day of our visit.

These flattering reviews sound like both recognition and revenge for Antoine Flamarion and his partner Matthieu Chabran. For a long time, their duo was looked down upon in the hearts of the closed and secretive world of the Parisian financial elite. "We were considered just two boys in shorts," jokes Antoine Flamarion, whose straightforward character stands out in the respectable financial sector. But times have changed. Recently, during King Charles III's visit, he was the only French financier invited to Versailles to attend a dinner hosted by President Macron in honor of the British royal couple.

The meeting of Antoine Flammarion and Mathieu Chabran

The meeting between Antoine Flamarion and Matthieu Chabran took place in the late 1990s. Young banker from Merrill Lynch, Antoine hired young Matthieu as an intern. This marked the beginning of an unbreakable friendship between the Parisian and the Cavaillon native. After working at Goldman Sachs, Antoine Flamarion, son of a real estate entrepreneur, decided to create his own asset management company. He convinced Matthieu Chabran to join this project. "We want to become the European Blackstone," they explain to those around them (Note: Blackstone is the largest alternative asset manager in the world with $1 trillion in assets under management).

“Tikehau is an entrepreneurial adventure. There aren’t many like it in the financial sector in Europe,” insists Antoine Flamarion even before he is asked the first question. The Tikehau Capital project, named after an atoll in French Polynesia, was launched in startup mode. “We invested 400,000 euros and set up in an apartment I was renting on Rue Royale in Paris.” Today, the “rocket” Tikehau manages 42 billion euros in alternative assets, employs around 750 people, and has opened 15 offices abroad.

Belgian investors and Tikehau's connection to Belgium

Among the supporters who took an early interest in Tikehau Capital is Albert Frère. "Monsieur Frère," as Antoine Flamarion emphasizes. "We met him in 2006 in Loverval (a suburb of Charleroi, Belgium)," recounts the co-founder of Tikehau. We had already laid the groundwork with Gilles Samyn, who was running the CNP holding, but Monsieur Frère wanted to see the two "artists," Chabran and Flamarion, before making a decision." It is clear that Albert Frère was convinced and made a contribution of 110 million euros. This is a significant amount for two young men in their thirties who still had to prove their worth. "We owe a lot to Monsieur Frère and CNP.

However, the reason for Tikehau's connection with Belgium goes beyond just Albert Frère. "We quickly started collaborating with Belgian investors," says Mr. Flamarion. He specifically mentions the names of Christian Dumoulin (Koramik Holding), the De Monceau family, and Luc Bertrand (Ackermans&van Haaren). Earlier this year, another major Belgian player joined Tikehau Capital: SFI, a subsidiary of Patrinvest, the company behind the Van Damme and Van der Straten Pontoze families. These families, who are among the founders of the Belgian brewing giant AB InBev, invested a significant amount of 400 million euros in Tikehau Capital Advisors (TCA), simultaneously becoming shareholders with a 9.3% stake in the publicly traded company Tikehau Capital.

Business model and future of Tikehau Capital

If both founders of Tikehau Capital stand out with a style and boldness akin to the City and Wall Street, rather than the Parisian financial community, they are not reckless adventurers. They are more like cautious and prudent creditor-investors. "From the very beginning," emphasizes Antoine Flamarion, "we aimed to build a global platform for attracting savings and investments in various sectors around the world. We have also always invested in diverse assets: private equity, real estate, private debt... Finally, in every country where Tikehau Capital operates, we strive to build a local brand. That’s why we love collaborating with great families, as they are excellent intermediaries in local ecosystems."

The success of Tikehau Capital is also explained by its chosen "business model." Unlike most traditional asset management companies, Tikehau Capital operates not only as a management company for the funds collected from clients (such as large families and institutional investors) but also as a co-investor. "Our belief is that the best way to control risks is to invest our own money in the projects and funds we create." This approach has been made possible by the significant amount of its own capital that Tikehau Capital has accumulated (around 3 billion euros).

It should also be noted that there is a desire to position itself in areas that Tikehau Capital considers very promising. For example, the French company invested in energy transformation and decarbonization back in 2014. "We are planning to launch a second decarbonization fund with TotalEnergies and other co-chairs. We hope to raise over 3 billion euros (compared to 1.1 billion in the first fund, editor's note)." Regenerative agriculture and cybersecurity are two other themes in which Tikehau Capital is actively involved.

The future? "We will continue to build a global leader in alternative asset management with strong roots in Europe," says Antoine Flamarion. Tikehau Capital aims to reach 65 billion euros in assets by 2026 (up from 42 billion today). "But we are aiming for much more. In ten years, we will be much larger, more diverse, more productive, and always innovative."

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