Warburg Pincus’s Joseph Landy to step down

Warburg Pincus co-chief executive Joseph Landy will transition out of his role over the next year.

There is no exact date for the transition, a source familiar with the situation said. Warburg Pincus declined to comment.

News of Landy’s decision to step down was first reported by Bloomberg.

This is only the second management transition in the firm’s 53-year history. Landy has managed Warburg alongside fellow co-chief executive Charles Kaye since 2000, when founders Lionel Pincus and John Vogelstein stepped down. Since then, the firm’s assets under management have mushroomed from around $15 billion to $65 billion.

Kaye will become the sole CEO and Timothy Geithner, former US Treasury secretary, will continue as president.

The source said Landy thought this was the “right time to move on”, but he will continue to be affiliated with the firm, helping with sourcing, prospecting and investing activities. The source was not aware of any LP concerns about the transition.

The move comes just weeks after Warburg announced the close of the $4.25 billion Warburg Pincus China-SEA II fund, which will invest in China and South-East Asia alongside the $14.8 billion Warburg Pincus Global Growth fund, which closed in late 2018.

Landy joined Warburg Pincus in 1985 and focused on investments in information technology, internet applications and infrastructure and structured investments, as well as coordinating limited partner communications.

Unlike some of the other major players in the industry, such as Carlyle Group and Blackstone, which were founded almost two decades after Warburg, the firm chose to remain a pure-play private equity firm focused on growth investments and buyouts. It also decided against going public, the source said.

The firm has doubled down on some of its sectors of expertise, raising specialist funds for energy and financial services along with its latest China/South-East Asia offering.

Warburg’s investment activities are coordinated by a 16-person executive management group led by Kaye and Landy. The firm has more than 200 investment professionals and 77 managing directors, according to Minnesota State Board of Investment documents acquired by PEI.

The interactive chart below sheds light on the performance of some of Warburg’s funds since 2002.  The bubbles are sized proportionately to the size of the fund; toggle between the tabs to see how they have fared by net internal rate of return and multiple on invested capital.

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