Warburg Pincus

Founding and early history

In 1939 Eric Warburg of the Warburg banking family founded a company 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 was a small office of 20 employees. In 1966, E.M. Warburg merged with Lionel I. Pincus & Co, forming a new company that eventually became known as E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co. 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. Lionel ran the company from 1966 to 2002, and died in 2009.

Warburg Pincus began investing in Europe in 1983 and opened its first office in Asia in 1994. It has invested more than $5 billion in Europe; more than $3 billion in India and more than $3.3 billion in China. The firm is headquartered in New York and has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore, with administrative offices in Amsterdam, Luxembourg and Mauritius.

The firm is structured as a global partnership led by co-presidents Charles Kaye and Joseph Landy. Kaye has been with Warburg Pincus since 1986 and worked to launch the Asian operations. Landy has been with the firm since 1985, focusing on investments in information technology, communications applications and structured investments. Approximately 35% of the firm’s investments are outside of the U.S.

Initial public offerings

Warburg Pincus has completed more initial public offerings with its companies than any other global private equity firm. More than 140 Warburg Pincus companies have listed on exchanges, raising approximately $30 billion in public markets. In each of these IPOs, the firm was the principal financial investor in the portfolio company. The companies have listed on 13 exchanges, including at least 30 IPOs outside the U.S. In August 2010, a six-year partnership between management and Warburg Pincus led to MEG Energy’s successful IPO.

Venture capital

Warburg Pincus has a history of venture capital investing. The firm is a founding member of the venture capital associations in the U.S. and China, and offers a global entrepreneur in residence program to help start up new businesses.

In October 2014, Reuters reported that Warburg Pincus had raised $4 billion for its first energy-focused private equity fund.

Growth capital

Warburg Pincus has invested in companies such as Harbin Pharmaceutical in China, Bharti Telecommunications in India, AmRest in Poland and Nuance Communications in the U.S. In Bharti Airtel, Warburg Pincus had invested $292 million across multiple tranches and exited with $1.9 billion in 2005, which is considered to be the largest Private Equity exit in India.

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."

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."

In 1999, they attempted to purchase English Premier League football (soccer) team Everton.