Michael Flacks, the investor who “buys companies that no one wants anymore”

EXCLUSIVE – The investment fund Flacks Group is opening offices in Paris. Based in Miami, this little-known private equity player buys companies that no one wants because they are “out of fashion” or too “dirty”. Its boss introduces himself.

This Tuesday, September 3, a light drizzle waters the terrace of the Westin Hotel, a few steps from the Place Vendôme in Paris. Gloomy weather? It would take more than that to disorient Michael Flacks, a British citizen by birth, who has known worse. Paris will be our headquarters for the whole of Europe. “, he rejoices on the contrary. A day earlier, the owner of the investment fund Flacks Group opened its first offices in the capital. In total, around ten people will work in its premises on the very chic Avenue Georges-V. The mandate he has set for them could not be clearer: ” we come buy companies that large multinationals want to get rid of ” he ordered.

The niche of this investor who made his fortune off the beaten track? I take over companies that no one wants anymore “, he sums up. Based in Miami, the businessman buys up industrial assets that are adrift, from which he exploits the income until their end” inevitable »: polluting factories, which no longer meet profitability standards, contaminated or abandoned sites… « Everything that is no longer fashionable “, he specifies. He now has more than four billion dollars under management. Assets that companies prefer to offload in order to meet their criteria of social and economic responsibility, the famous CSR standards… ” You sale “, he sometimes sums up bluntly.

A solid reputation in the small world of American private equity

Born in the industrially decaying working-class city of Manchester, Michael Flacks started at the bottom of the ladder. I followed my beautiful star “, he admits in English laced with a strong accent from his hometown – he never lost it. A school dropout at 16, Flacks started out selling clothes in markets, then in hotels. A path that was not yet ambitious enough for him. At 28, he went into exile in the United States to live the great American dream.[…]

- challenges.fr

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