Warburg Pincus

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Warburg Pincus is a private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. It has been a private equity investor since 1971. The firm currently has approximately $14 billion under management, and invests in a range of industries including information and communication technology, financial services, healthcare, leveraged buyouts and special situations, media and business services, energy and real estate. Warburg Pincus also has a long history as a leading investor in the information and communication technology sectors, including investments in Avaya, BEA Systems, Bharti Tele-Ventures, Cassatt, Harbour Networks, NeuStar, Systinet, Telcordia and VERITAS Software. Warburg Pincus has an active portfolio of more than 115 companies spanning the entire spectrum of scale and maturity.

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[edit] Founding and Early History

The firm was founded in 1938 by Eric Warburg of the Warburg banking family under the name E.M. Warburg & Co. Its first address was 52 William Street, New York, the Kuhn Loeb building. Throughout the early post-war period, the firm remained a small office of not more than 20 employees. In 1965, when Eric Warburg retired to Germany, control was handed to Lionel Pincus, a partner in the Ladenburg Thalmann investment bank, and the working language of the office switched from German to English.

[edit] Fight over the Warburg name

During the post-war period, Eric Warburg vied with his cousin Siegmund Warburg, founder of S.G. Warburg, over the use of the Warburg name in New York. Siegmund wished to expand the S.G. Warburg franchise into New York but was blocked by the existence of E.M. Warburg & Co. Following the effective sale of the business to Pincus, Siegmund Warburg accused Eric of prostituting the Warburg name. "Complicating matters was that Siegmund thought Pincus the wrong kind of Jew - of Eastern European ancestry, with a garment-district background. Professionally, he thought Pincus well below haute banque stature in the venture capital world."[1] Pincus is a character in the famous book "Soll und Haben" of the German Writer Gustav Freytag. The character Loebel Pinkus is portrayed as an abhorrent jew like Mausche Fischel and Schmeie Tinkeles.

In January 1970, Siegmund finally got the name changed to E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Company to differentiate it from S.G. Warburg & Company. "In the end, however, Lionel Pincus had the last laugh on Siegmund. He expanded Eric's tiny firm into a giant, thriving business, with three and a half billion dollars of venture capital partnerships."[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ron Chernow, The Warburgs (Vintage: 1993).
  2. ^ Ibid.
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