Two London-based dealmakers at Warburg Pincus are preparing to leave the U.S. buyout giant later this year to launch their own private-equity firm, according to people familiar with the situation.
Managing director David Reis, 46, and principal Rianne Schipper, 35, both of whom focus on business services investments, have spent a decade working together at Warburg Pincus. Schipper joined the firm in 2014 and two years later helped establish the industrial and business services team in Europe alongside Reis, who joined from Goldman Sachs that year.
Reis has led what Warburg Pincus calls “European landmark investments,” including airline services group Accelya and compliance and supply chain management software provider Once for All, according to the firm’s website. He is also actively involved in Warburg’s investment in pharma data company Norstella and serves as a director of Unity Advisory, PTSG, Gemini and Sundyne.
Schipper has worked on Once for All, Norstella, and Accelya, as well as other Warburg investments including fashion brand Reiss and pharmacy chain Apteka Gemini. She was named one of the youngest ever entrants in the Private Equity News Rising Stars awards in 2020 at age 29, described at the time by Reis as a “star performer.” She began her career at Credit Suisse and joined Warburg Pincus as an associate, gaining a promotion to vice president three years later.
The departures come amid a wider shake-up inside Warburg Pincus’s London office. The firm has broken up its industrial and business services sector team in Europe, splitting its business services sector in two: core business services now form part of the financial services group, while the data and technology business services focus falls under the remit of its technology team, according to people familiar with the situation. The industrials group in Europe will now operate as a standalone team, mirroring its counterparts in the U.S. and Asia.
The spinout is the latest sign of what one senior placement agent described as the “golden age of spinouts” in Europe, where a wave of ambitious dealmakers are leaving larger institutional firms to raise first-time funds. A slowdown in exits and carried interest payouts — the so-called “golden handcuffs” that encouraged professionals to stay — combined with rising investor appetite for first-time funds is driving the trend.
Adarsh Sarma, a former prominent tech investor at Warburg Pincus who became co-head of Europe, left the firm in 2024 to create his own firm, registered on Companies House as A3/C Partners.
MSI previously reported that private-equity firms are looking to the rekindled IPO market to unload more than 33,000 investments built up at portfolio companies, a dynamic that has also contributed to the liquidity environment behind the recent wave of manager departures.
Warburg Pincus and Reis declined to comment. Schipper could not be reached for comment.