Robertus H. L. M. Thielen (born 1961)Executive Profile: Robert H.L.M. Thielen
Bloomberg Businessweek is a Dutch businessman and investor, working primarily in Europe. He is chairman and founder of Waterland Private Equity, co-founding partner of Russia-based private equity group, Elbrus Capital, and chairman of the Gryphion family office

Education

Thielen graduated in tax law at the University of San Diego in California, US, and obtained a degree in tax law at the Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, the Netherlands. He also studied at Northwestern University in Chicago, US.

Career

He worked as a turn-around management consultant with the Investment Management & Consulting Group (IMCG) and with the International Corporate Finance Group of ABN AMRO Bank. Thielen was a partner and shareholder of RWP Corporate Finance advisors, which was later acquired by Investec group. He was also general manager of his family owned fashion retail group.< He is chairman and founder of Waterland Private Equity Investments, an independent private equity group which focuses its investments on

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

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Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

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Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

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United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and Switzerland. Waterland has been involved in about 500 transactions in 54 industries in 18 countries with an equity base of around €6 billion.Member Profile: Waterland Private Equity
Belgian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association The company owned Intertrust Group, until it sold that firm in 2012 for an estimated €400 million. Waterland has ranked in the top 3 of best performing private equity houses globally for 8 years in a row. He is also co-founding partner of Elbrus Capital,Partners
Elbrus Capital a Russia-based private equity group. Its equity base is around $1,0 billion. Thielen founded his own family office Gryphion in 2019 in order to manage his assets with a focus on private equity investing. Thielen has served as a non-executive member of the board of RPS plc, an LSE quoted company active in environmental consultancy; and a non-executive board member of arxes NCC AG, an IT service provider quoted at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. He currently is an advisor to the non-executive director of Hampstead Global Fund, a hedge fund formerly listed on the Irish Stock Exchange. He contributes to Forbes.com covering international finance and investment trends. Thielen donated £50,000 to the British Conservative Party in April 2016.

Sponsorships

VVD politician Hans van Baalen has mentioned Thielen as one of the sponsors of this 2014 campaign for the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...

. Thielen also sponsors the

Smart Parks Smart Parks (formerly ShadowView) is an organisation which focuses on supporting conservation and anti-poaching using modern technology. History ShadowView was founded in 2012 and launched publicly in January 2013. The organisation operates as a ...

Foundation and the

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marine conservation activism organization based in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States. Sea Shepherd employs direct action tactics to achieve its goal ...

Teaching positions

Thielen was also a member of the visiting faculty of the Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University), where he taught on mergers and acquisitions on the RSM MBA program.

Awards

In 2011, Thielen won the annual APEC ‘Private Equity Man of the Year’ Award, an award for Private Equity leaders established by the Amsterdam Private Equity Club. In 2009, he was ranked 170 in the Quote 500 list of richest Dutch people; in 2018 he was placed at number 82 in the Netherlands Quote 500.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thielen, Rob 1961 births Living people University of San Diego alumni Dutch businesspeople Private equity and venture capital investors Conservative Party (UK) donors