When Gregory Centurione launched Value Partners in 2012, a friend warned him about competing with bigger players in Luxembourg’s alternative funds sector.
“At first sight, there was absolutely no space,” the firm’s CEO reflects on the competitive landscape he entered. “So we took the challenge, and we did it.”
Centurione started the company alone, working from offices in Capellen to attract Belgian employees facing long commutes to Luxembourg City.
Thirteen years later, Value Partners offers a full range of core services to the private equity, real assets and debt capital sectors, as well as to multinational companies and the banking industry in both regulated and non-regulated markets. Its 150 employees provide accounting and corporate services, fund administration, consolidation, corporate tax and VAT, FATCA-CRS, liquidation services, anti-money laundering and regulatory support.
The firm has grown by roughly 30% each year without losing a single client to a competitor. In one case, a client under the direction of a new CFO wanted to switch to a global provider to avoid working with multiple companies in different countries. Six months later, they called back.
“Could you come back, because it’s a mess here? They don’t understand what they are doing. Could you help us?” Centurione recalled.
The founder attributes strong customer retention to what he calls a differentiation strategy built around client needs. “Clients were looking for a provider bringing added value. They didn’t expect something standard.”
Centurione points to three pillars beyond technical skills for the business: speed, stability, and a one-stop-shop approach. Private equity clients need quick answers, so Value Partners organised itself to react fast.
Appealing HR Environment
Stability matters because trust takes time. High staff turnover at competitors became a weakness Value Partners could exploit.
The firm created what the CEO describes as “a very attractive, appealing HR environment” that retains more than 90% of its employees year after year as part of its strategic plan. The design was to establish a business home where employees benefit from internal growth opportunities. Younger graduates that the firm recruits to replenish its talent receive intensive training in their first year.
“If you hire juniors, if you want to keep the same level of quality output, you need to have a strong training approach internally,” Centurione said.
For clients, this stability translates into relationships with people who understand their
structures.
Value Partners staff “have the full background. They understand immediately, which makes things definitely easier for” clients, he said. “Because if you change every three months, you would have to start all over again and explain the whole, the full background. You don’t know if you would get quality at the end of the day, or a good understanding of the situation.”
Besides the rewards of business growth and profitability, “the most interesting part is the HR adventure where people get to know each other, are part of a team, they develop trust between them, they build up something, they create something,” he says.
One-Stop-Shop Model
The one-stop-shop model means a fund setting up in Luxembourg can get everything from fund administration and transfer agent services to accounting, corporate secretarial, governance, consolidation, tax, VAT, regulatory and AML/KYC services.
“We try to extend our proposal in terms of services to get closer and closer to the one-stop-shop strategy,” Centurione said.
Value Partners has focused on organic growth rather than acquisitions.
“We wanted to focus all our energy on developing our credibility and presence on the market through organic growth because, when you are in a buy-and-build situation where you try to buy competitors, then you would spend two years implementing the harmonisation of the processes,” Centurione explains. “It’s energy spent on that integration process rather than focusing on the market and market developments.”
The firm also adapts its approach to each client. Some want hands-off service. Others need Value Partners staff embedded in their offices three or four days a week.
“We would say, no problem. We’ll take our team and three days a week or four days a week they would be within your offices,” Centurione says. “So you have them with you. You need them right now. They are here.”
Today, private equity represents 60% of the client portfolio. Infrastructure and real estate account for 25%, credit funds about 5-10%, and the remainder comes from international companies and banking.
Value Partners plans international expansion by 2027, responding to client requests for support in further jurisdictions where they operate.
