Apax sued by co-founder

Tchenio is the chairman of Apax’s French affiliate Apax Partners SA. According to the Financial Times, Tchenio claims that the UK-based arm of Apax owes him profits and management fees from investments in Sweden, Italy and the Netherlands.

Tchenio, 65, set up Apax Partners with Sir Ronald Cohen in the UK and Alan Patricof in the US in 1976. The lawsuit follows years of unsuccessful negotiations between the Paris and London offices of Apax.   

Tchenio filed the suit in London’s commercial court on 5 November. The suit claims that according to a 2001 agreement, Tchenio has the right to share fees and carry from Apax in the UK.

It seems as if the dispute relates to deals done by the merged Apax group in the Netherlands, Italy and Sweden, which under the 2001 agreement were defined as markets shared between Tchenio and the merged Apax firm.

Apax merged its US, UK, Swiss, German and Spanish operations into a single group in 1999, which proceeded to raise a combined fund. Apax in France, however, did not join the merger. It has separate staff, its own fund, invests exclusively in France and is run day-to-day by Eddie Misrahi.

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