Mousse Partners is an

investment management Investment management (sometimes referred to more generally as financial asset management) is the professional asset management of various Security (finance), securities, including shareholdings, Bond (finance), bonds, and other assets, such as r ...

firm based in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

that serves as a

family office A family office is a privately held company that handles investment management and wealth management for a wealthy family, generally one with at least $50–100 million in investable assets, with the goal being to effectively grow and transfer ...

to manage the wealth of Alain and

Gérard Wertheimer Gérard Paul Philippe Wertheimer (born 17 April 1951) is a French billionaire businessman based in New York City and Geneva, who owns Chanel in partnership with his brother, Alain. As of October 2022, Wertheimer's net worth was estimated at US$4 ...

, the current owners of French

luxury Luxury may refer to: *Luxury goods, an economic good or service for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises *Luxury tax, a tax on products not considered essential, such as speedboats or diamonds. **Luxury tax (sports), a ...

fashion house Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction, and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by diverse cultures and different trends and has varied over time and place. "A fashion design ...

Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. It is privately owned by French brothers, Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, through the holding company Chanel Limited, established in 2018 and headquarte ...

. It is the investment division of Mousse Investments Limited (formerly Litor Limited), a

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

for Chanel and its subsidiaries.

Background

Mousse Partners was founded in 1991 by Charles Heilbronn, a Chanel executive and half-brother to its owners, Alain and Gérard Wertheimer. The purpose of the firm was to structure and manage the fortunes of Chanel and its owners. As a result, it can be seen as investing not only on behalf of the Wertheimer brothers but also on behalf of Chanel itself. Mousse Partners was originally a subsidiary held by holding company, Mousse Investments Limited until December 2018 when it merged into Mousse Investments Limited and is current the investment division of the company. Mousse Partners makes investments in both the

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

and private markets. It is involved in

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

, real estate and credit investments. The firm is considered very secretive and details about its operations are scarce. When Chanel moved its headquarters to London and changed its organization structure, it could pay more dividends to its holding company, Mousse Investments due to more generous tax laws regarding dividends. In 2019 it paid US$1.6 billion and in 2021, it reached US$4.98 billion. As a result, Mousse Partners being the investment division of the holding company, had more capital to invest although it has not disclosed the amount. Mousse Partners is headquartered in the

Solow Building The Solow Building, also known as 9 West 57th Street, is a skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1974 and designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, it is west of Fifth Avenue between 57t ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with additional offices in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. It has over 36 employees to manage its portfolio with many coming from operations such as

The Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management. Carlyle specializes in ...

GIC GIC may refer to: Education * Ghana Insurance College, in Accra, Ghana * Government Intermediate College, a type of school in India * Grait International College in Nigeria * Gyosei International College in the U.K., defunct Finance * General ...

and

Soros Fund Management Soros Fund Management is a privately held American investment management firm. It is currently structured as a family office, but formerly was a hedge fund. The firm was founded in 1970 by George Soros and, in 2010, was reported to be one of th ...

. Charles Heilbronn's son Arthur is a managing director of the firm. In February 2023, it was reported that the Wertheimer family through Mousse Partners were one of the investors involved in the deal to take

Rothschild & Co Rothschild & Co SCA is a multinational Private banking, private and alternative assets investor, headquartered in Paris, France and London, United Kingdom. It is the flagship of the Rothschild banking group controlled by the British and French br ...

private. In February 2024, according to an employee, Mousse Partners was looking at middle market

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company using a significant proportion of borrowed money (Leverage (finance), leverage) to fund the acquisition with the remainder of the purchase price funded with private equity. The assets of t ...

opportunities in Asia.

References

External links

* {{authority control Chanel Financial services companies established in 1991 Investment management companies of Bermuda Family offices