Adenia Partners has hired Stephane Bacquaert as Managing Director and member of the Board.

He will be primarily focused on leading Adenia private equity activities in West Africa.

Bacquaert joins from Wendel where he was Managing Director and CEO of Wendel Africa for the last 15 years.

At Wendel, he led the IPO of Bureau Veritas where he has been a Board member for more than 10 years.

He led the investment strategy of Wendel in Africa where the group invested over $1bn since 2013.

He was on the Board of IHS Holding, Tsebo Solutions Group, Saham Group and PlaYce Africa, as well as Materis and Mecatherm in Europe.

Stephane was previously a Partner at Atlas Venture, an international venture capital fund with $2.5bn under management, where he specialized in new technologies, media and telecoms.

Bacquaert began his career at Bain & Company, a leading strategy consulting firm, where he conducted studies in the telecom, banking and private equity industry in Europe and Central America.

He then co-founded and led NetsCapital, an investment bank specialized in TMT.

Bacquaert graduated from the Ecole Centrale Paris and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques Paris and holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar).

Antoine Delaporte, Founder of Adenia Partners, said: "I am very pleased to welcome Stephane to Adenia Partners. Stephane’s outstanding investment experience specifically in Africa will help Adenia to reach the next level of performance and to continue delivering superior return to all our stakeholders. I am convinced that together with our exceptional team Stephane will consolidate Adenia’s leadership in the African private equity sector."

Stephane Bacquaert added: "I am very excited to join Adenia Partners. Private equity is rapidly growing in Africa, and Adenia is uniquely positioned on the market, with its entrepreneurial mindset, and its focus on control investments. Since 2002, Adenia has had a great track record of driving sustainable business transformation and consistently achieving superior returns. I am looking forward to working closely with Antoine, Alexis and Adenia’s talented team to further develop our platform and impact across the continent."