Warburg Pincus, the pioneer of private equity global growth investing, announced the commencement of a dedicated European defence investment platform, reflecting the firm’s view that the sector is benefiting from sustained structural tailwinds and long-term policy support across the region. MEAG, as asset manager of Munich Re Group, will support the strategy as an early backer in the investment platform.

The proposed investment platform will complement existing capabilities while maintaining a dedicated European defence focus. As European governments and institutions accelerate investment in defence capabilities, resilience and strategic sovereignty, the proposed platform seeks to position Warburg Pincus to deploy capital into defence and adjacent strategic industries across Europe.

“Europe is undergoing a fundamental reassessment of its defence, resilience and security needs, leading to significant need for scaling of the European Defence sector,” said Tobias Weidner, Managing Director and head of the European Industrials team at Warburg Pincus. “We believe this creates a compelling long-term opportunity to support the growth of high-quality businesses operating in critical, strategic sectors, drawing on our experience investing in Aerospace and Defence and broader industrials.”

“Defence and security are strategically important sectors, given their role in supporting European resilience. Warburg Pincus is a natural partner based on our long-standing relationship and their deep sector expertise in Aerospace and Defence with a multi-decade track record building market-leading companies. We look forward to working together to back high-quality European businesses in this space,” said Nicholas Gartside, Member of the Board of Munich Re and Chief Investment Officer of Munich Reinsurance Company.

Warburg Pincus has a long track record of partnering with management teams and founders across Europe and globally. The firm brings significant experience across core Aerospace and Defence and adjacent industrial sectors globally, supported by more than 20 years of industrials investing and over 40 years of investing in Europe through multiple economic cycles. Current and former Aerospace and Defence platforms include Consolidated Precision Products (CPP), Triumph Group, INRCORE, Wencor Group, Extant Aerospace and TransDigm in the U.S., Inmarsat and Accelya in Europe and Quest Global in India.

In recent years, Warburg Pincus has also further strengthened its senior advisory capabilities in the defence and national security space, assembling a group of highly experienced European and transatlantic leaders. This includes:

• Admiral Joachim Georg Rühle (Retired 4 Star Admiral), former Chief of Staff at NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and former Vice Chief of Defence of the German Armed Forces;
• Susanne Wiegand, a senior executive with more than 20 years of leadership experience across the defence, mechanical engineering and marine industries, including as Chair and CEO of RENK Group AG and former CEO of Rheinmetall’s Electronic Solutions division;
• Lieutenant General Jürgen-Joachim von Sandrart (Retired 3 Star General), with four decades of service in the German Army and former commander of NATO’s Multinational Corps Northeast and a senior advisor on security and defence policy in Germany; and
• Rolf Wirtz, a senior defence executive and former officer in the German armed forces, with decades of leadership across military aircraft and UAV, defence electronics, and naval systems, including as CEO of Atlas Elektronik and as CEO of TKMS.

This deep bench of advisors is expected to work closely alongside the firm’s experienced Aerospace and Defence investment professionals based across Europe and the U.S., combining strategic, operational and policy expertise with Warburg Pincus’ global sourcing capabilities and value-creation platform.