TEAM + ADVISORS
OUR NETWORK IS
OUR NET WORTH
Decades of PE experience. Deep family connections.
Decades of PE experience. Deep family connections.
THE KHARIS TEAM
Solid PE expertise. Strong investment, advisory and operational backgrounds. Decades of experience managing and partnering with prominent families. The Kharis team operates from offices in Luxembourg, Belgium, Hong Kong. Our network spans the globe.
DANIEL GROSSMANN
Managing Partner
Daniel is a seasoned investor with years of experience in private equity. He has a strong legal, operational and investment background in the consumer, retail and digital space.
Prior to co-founding Kharis Capital, he led direct investments and internal developments for consumer-focused family investment firm Verlinvest for nearly a decade. Daniel started his career as a lawyer in Digital, Media and Technology at Allen&Overy and later joined a specialty retail PE firm where he managed offline and online investments across Europe and Asia, prior to gaining valuable operational and marketing experience as a key executive in a turn-around situation.
His creative mindset, dynamism and results-driven approach are a steady driver of Kharis’ investments.
Daniel is an active board member of multiple companies, including Valtech, QSRP, Livspace and Rigoni di Asiago. His professional endeavors have led him to work and live in London, Hong Kong and Miami.
MANUEL ROUMAIN
Managing Partner
Manuel has extensive capital market experience with major Wall Street firms, such as Goldman Sachs, UBS and Citigroup. He managed direct and LP investments across all asset classes during his 10-year tenure as Chief Investment Officer at the prominent Geneva-based family office Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation. Manuel’s strategic thinking, focus and accountability have enabled him to establish and foster a wealth of key relationships with long-term investors.
Alexander Carlier
Investment Partner
Alexander joined Kharis at its inception. He is one of the senior investment professionals at Kharis. He leads the investments in the Quick Service Restaurant sector, our largest investment exposure, and acts as Group CFO of QSRP.
Prior to joining Kharis Capital in 2015, Alexander was the Business Modelling Manager at E&Y in Brussels. He has held positions in consultancy and the banking industry and has been involved in many transactions on behalf of PE funds and corporate clients across several industries, including energy, consumer goods and infrastructure.
Alexander holds a Master’s degree in Commercial Sciences with a major in Accountancy and Taxation. He attended the Stanford SEP program and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Laurent Vermer
Principal, Head of Healthy Food & Beverage Hub
Laurent is an experienced international investment executive and operator with specific sector expertise in consumer goods and the agroindustry. He leads Kharis' selective investments in the healthy food and beverage space.
Prior to joining Kharis Capital in 2015, Laurent was Investment Director at PE fund BeCapital. Before that he served with Anheuser-Busch InBev in M&A and sales management roles, after working in M&A and Project Financing at Suez Energy in Brazil and Italy.
Laurent holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BA from Solvay Business School. He is fluent in Dutch, French, English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.
Aurélien Mir
Principal
Aurélien is a Principal at Kharis Capital with extensive experience in the consumer and retail industries.
Prior to joining Kharis Capital in June 2020, Aurélien was a VP in the Consumer team of Houlihan Lokey in London, focusing on mid-market transactions in the food space. He also worked in the Consumer and Retail team of Barclays in London. He started his career in the Consumer team at Rothschild in London and further enriched his investment expertise at Verlinvest, a Belgian consumer-focused family investment firm.
Aurélien holds a MsC in Management from EM Lyon, with a major in Corporate Finance.
Frédéric Markiewicz
Investment Associate
Frédéric is an Investment Associate with a strong expertise in valuation analysis and modelling, including LBO, DCF, comparable transactions and public comparable analysis. He evaluates new investment opportunities, develops financial models for operational and investment purposes and supports portfolio company management.
Prior to joining Kharis Capital in 2020, Frédéric worked as an associate in the M&A department of Atlas Advisors, a New York-based independent investment banking firm, where he evaluated and executed numerous advisory transactions in consumer, luxury, retail and technology sectors.
Frédéric holds a Master’s in Management from HEC Paris and a BSc in PPE from Warwick University.
Olivier Guibert
Investment Associate
Olivier is an accomplished investment associate with strong expertise in financial and qualitative analysis, including valuation and LBO modelling. His investments span the food, retail, industrial, healthcare and business services industries.
Prior to joining Kharis Capital in 2021, Olivier worked as Investment Banking Analyst at Lazard Frères in Paris. He also worked as a PE Associate at the Zurich-based global PE firm Partners Group AG, where he conducted financial and qualitative analysis on numerous investment opportunities.
Olivier holds a Bachelor of Science from LSE London and a Master’s in International Management from Bocconi University in Milan.
Steven Couturier
Investment Associate
Steven is an Investment Associate at Kharis Capital with a strong financial background and considerable experience in the consumer and retail industries.
Prior to joining Kharis Capital in 2022, Steven worked as an Associate Director in the Investment Banking team of KBC Securities in Brussels. Before that, he worked in M&A at Rothschild & Co and Allyum where he evaluated and executed numerous mid-market transactions across the consumer, retail, food, industrial, business services and technology industries.
Steven holds a Master’s in Business Engineering from KU Leuven, a Postgraduate in Finance & Securities from the EHSAL Management School in Brussels and is a CFA charterholder.
Jonathan De Venter
Investment Analyst
Prior to joining Kharis in August 2022, Jonathan started his career in Brussels-based private equity company M80 Partners.
Jonathan holds a Master’s degree in Business Engineering – Information Systems (Major in Statistics) from KU Leuven and a Master’s in Financial Management from Vlerick Business School.
Lionel Schreiber
Group CFO
Lionel is a seasoned investment professional with cross-industry and cross-functional experience. As CFO, he handles Kharis’ finance, regulatory and structural areas.
Lionel joined Kharis in 2016 after working for management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, PE firm Cobepa and energy investment company Engie China.
Lionel graduated from Imperial College London and HEC Paris and is a Certified International Investment Analyst. He is fluent in English, Dutch and French.
Shiyang (Ben) Cui
CEO Kharis China
Shiyang (Ben) Cui joined Kharis in 2022 as CEO of Kharis China following 13 years of investment banking and cross border investments experience. Prior to Kharis, Mr Cui was Head of Global Markets at PingAn Trust where he built and led the largest cross-border team among non-bank financial institutions, covering both capital market outbound investment (RQDII, QDII, QDIE and QDLP) and offshore capital domestic investment (QFLP and QFII). His other experiences include VGM of International Business at Sino Australian Trust and Credit Analyst at Markit Group.
Shiyang Cui is fluent in Chinese and English, he holds a BSc in Economics from the LSE and completed the Financial Risk Management certification from the GARP.
Léopold Van Oost
Financial Controller
Léopold joined Kharis Capital in December 2021 and works as Financial Controller for the group.
He previously worked for 4 years as Senior Auditor at Deloitte Belgium, where he led several International and Bel20 audit engagements across a wide variety of industries.
Léopold holds a Master in Business Engineering, with a specialisation in Innovation Management, from the Louvain School of Management (UCL) and has done various traineeships as Business Developer.
Sandra Rainieri
Corporate and AML officer
Sandra works as controller in Kharis’ finance department.
She previously managed banking operations for small retail enterprises, headed up a team of AML/KYC analysts at ING and worked as Operations Officer at invoicing platform company Edebex.
Sandra holds a Master’s degree in Multilingual Business Communication from Université Catholique de Louvain, a BA in Translation and Interpreting (Chinese|English|French) from the Institut Supérieur de Traducteurs et Interprètes in Brussels and has done traineeships in sales and marketing in Brussels and Honk Kong, respectively.
David Jachir
Investor Relations & Business Development
David has a background in controlling, IT and international trade finance. He works closely with our investor base at all stages of the investment cycle, ensuring alignment with investors and stakeholders.
Prior to joining Kharis in April 2020, David worked as a business consultant in IT and project management. Before that, he was Group CFO and partner of an international garment and manufacturing company. His experience in the Fashion Industry spans M&A and international trade finance.
David holds a Master Degree in Management from the Solvay Business School in Brussels. He is fluent in English, Dutch, German and French.
Judita Zukaite
Syndication & Investor Relations
Judita is an experienced Private Equity professional with more than ten years of capital raising, in-vestment and corporate finance experience.
Before joining Kharis, Judita was leading investments and special projects for a family office focus-ing on consumer, technology and branded real estate sectors. Judita also spent seven years at a US-based private equity fund Yucaipa Companies, where she was responsible for fundraising and was part of the investment team.
Judita holds an MBA degree from the University of Southern California.
Alain Sethi
Legal and Compliance Officer
Since 2014, Alain has been Chief Administration Officer of QSRP, one of Kharis’ portfolio companies, and serves as board member of several QSRP entities. He oversees all legal and compliance matters.
Alain was previously an investment manager at the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation, where he evaluated investments across various asset classes, industries and geographies. Prior to that he held investment research positions at Bank am Bellevue and CFRA in Zurich and London.
Alain holds an MBA from London Business School and a Master’s in Law from University of Lausanne. He is fluent in French and English.
Deborah Panarello
Executive Assistant
Deborah has been managing high-profile offices for nearly 20 years across multiple sectors, including banking, government and shipping.
She is a natural problem solver and skillful communicator who combines comprehensive executive administration skills with project management and planning expertise.
Deborah has a background in foreign languages, training in accounting in finance, and speaks English, French and Italian fluently.
Seta Luleci
Office Manager & Executive Assistant
Seta brings nearly 20 years of professional B2B and executive administration experience to Kharis.
She ensures seamless management of Kharis' Brussels office, where she liaises with our managing partners and the portfolio & finance teams both domestically and across all overseas branches.
Seta has a background in sales and is fluent in French, English and Armenian.
OUR ADVISORS
These are our sparring partners. They challenge us, support us and give us tremendous clarity. All of them draw on enormous executive leadership and operational experience and expertise. They are also great friends.
"Sharp, clever, astute. A natural strategist who knows how to read and navigate any situation."
Natalia Barsegiyan
Business Strategy Committee member, QSRP
"Unparalleled retail experience as former CEO of Carrefour and Marks & Spencer. Luc has the wisdom to ask exactly the right questions every single time."
Luc Vandevelde
Member of the Board, JDE Peet’s
Chairman, Majid Al Futtaim Group Ventures Board
"Knows how to build solid relationships and strong companies. Humble, generous and inclusive."
Mike Kirban
Co- Founder, Chairman and CEO, Vita Coco
"Discrete, direct and pragmatic. Builds partnerships and companies with ease."
Clément Benoit
Co- Founder, Not So Dark
"Our eyes on the ground in Asia. Well-connected and knowledgeable. A master deal-maker."
Nicholas Cator
Managing Partner, Venturi Partners
"A trustworthy sounding board. Chris has the heart of an entrepreneur and the steady focus of a shipmaster."
Chris Satterfield
CEO, China Post Global
Member of the Board, Kharis Capital Advisory, Hong Kong
"Brilliant builder of relationships, teams and company cultures. He keeps businesses human."
Simon Cohn
Co- Founder, Ginkgo
"AgriFood and seafood industry pioneer. Understands exactly how farms and factories operate."
Maiko Van der Meer
Co- Founder, Novish
"Skilled trader with a keen eye for asymmetric risk-return. His mind is always ten steps ahead."
Emmanuel Poznanski
Business Strategy Committee Member, QSRP
"Our market insights guy. A dynamic and enthusiastic digital trendspotter."
Frédéric-Charles Petit
CEO and Founder, Toluna