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Private Equity · Profile from Private Equity Research Companion

Advent International

A Boston-born, genuinely global buyout firm that grew out of TA Associates' international network, became the leading sponsor of corporate carve-outs and payments businesses in Europe, and built the most enduring Latin American private equity franchise.

At a glance

Founded
1984, Boston, Massachusetts
Founder
Peter A. Brooke (founder of TA Associates, 1968)
Headquarters
Boston; major offices in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Warsaw, São Paulo, Bogotá, Mexico City, Lima, Mumbai, Shanghai, Tokyo, etc.
AUM
~$100bn reported (Nov 2025); regulatory AUM ~$91.6bn per Form ADV (March 2026)
Flagship
Global Private Equity (GPE) funds; GPE X $25bn (2022); GPE XI ~$25.5bn raised by July 2026 against a ~$26bn target (reported)
Other programmes
Latin American Private Equity Fund (LAPEF) series; Advent Tech funds; Advent Life Sciences (spun out)
Leadership (2026)
David Mussafer (Chair & Managing Partner); John Maldonado and James Brocklebank (Managing Partners, Co-Chairs of Executive Committee); other MPs incl. Chris Egan, Tricia Glynn; Eric Wei promoted MP Jan 2026 (reported)
Ownership
Private partnership

13 deals and moves analysed

Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.

  1. 2004

    Dufry

    Buyout and IPO Platform

  2. 2005

    Lululemon

    Growth Equity Minority

  3. 2010

    Worldpay

    Carve-out Buyout

  4. 2012

    Douglas

    Take-Private with Founding Family

  5. 2014

    Nets

    Bank Consortium Buyout

  6. 2015

    Nexi

    Bank-Owned Payments Carve-out

  7. 2018

    Zentiva

    Corporate Carve-out from Sanofi

  8. 2019

    Cobham

    Take-Private and Break-up

  9. 2019

    Roehm

    Corporate Carve-out

  10. 2020

    TK Elevator

    Corporate Carve-out

  11. 2022

    Maxar

    Take-Private

  12. 2023

    Univar

    Take-Private

  13. 2024

    Nuvei

    Take-Private with Founder Rollover