Onex Lines Up Le Blanc as Possible Successor With Promotion
Onex Promotes Former Berkshire Executive Le Blanc to President
(Bloomberg) -- Onex Corp., one of Canada’s largest buyout firms, promoted Bobby Le Blanc to president, positioning him as a potential successor to founder Gerry Schwartz.
The position is a new one at Onex. Le Blanc had been one of three senior managing directors at the firm, which manages more than $35 billion and has never been run by anyone other than Schwartz, who remains chairman and chief executive officer.
Le Blanc will oversee all of its business units and become the sole head of Onex Partners, the Toronto-based firm’s flagship private equity group.
“Having joined the firm more than 20 years ago, Bobby represents the best of Onex,” said Schwartz, 78, who is one of Canada’s pioneering private equity investors. “I am confident he will continue to be a positive force in our future success and Onex, our shareholders and our partners will continue to benefit from his proven leadership.”
The leadership shuffle comes at a time when Onex is shifting its corporate strategy, expanding into a broader set of services for institutional investors and wealthy clients.
In the past five years, Onex’s assets under management have grown to include almost $20 billion from private equity. The firm’s credit business almost doubled to $12 billion, and last year it added a wealth management unit through the acquisition of money manager Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc.
Senior managing director Anthony Munk, the son of Canadian entrepreneur mining executive Peter Munk, will become vice chairman of Onex, giving investment advice across the firm including at Onex Partners. Former banker Seth Mersky will move from senior managing director of Onex to vice chairman of Gluskin Sheff.
Le Blanc, Munk and Mersky have all spent more than two decades at Onex and were seen as contenders to succeed Schwartz. Prior to joining Onex, Le Blanc was an executive at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Onex swung to a profit in the second quarter, rebounding from segment losses of about $1.1 billion in the first three months of the year, as markets rebounded after a global selloff.
The investment management firm said gains in its private equity and credit investments boosted net earnings to $629 million, a 144% climb from $258 million a year earlier.
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