LetterOne Announces Karl-Heinz Holland, Former CEO Lidl, Appointed to L1 Retail Advisory Board and Michael Casey, Former MD Goldman Sachs, to Join L1 Retail as Senior Investment Partner

LONDON, May 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

LetterOne (L1), the international investment business, headquartered in Luxembourg, today announced Karl-Heinz Holland has been appointed to the L1 Retail Advisory Board with immediate effect.

L1 Retail, L1's new retail investment business based in the UK, was launched in December last year. It aims to invest up to $3 billion in a small number of long term equity investments in retailers that have the potential to become leaders in their segments and markets, initially in Europe and emerging markets.

Karl-Heinz served for six years as CEO of Lidl Group, the pioneering German food retailer. He drove the expansion of Lidl across Europe and established it as one of the continent's leading food retailers. In a 23-year career with Lidl, Karl-Heinz was responsible for purchasing, marketing and international logistics prior to his appointment as CEO in 2008.

Karl-Heinz has extensive expertise and leadership experience in the international retail arena. He is currently Chairman of the Board of the DSD - Duales System Holding GmbH & Co. KG as well as Member of the Supervisory Board of Zooplus AG.

L1 Retail has appointed an Advisory Board of internationally renowned retail leaders and specialists, who are deeply involved in supporting its investment team and bring an array of world class skills.

Karl-Heinz joins Clive Humby, one of the founders of dunnhumby (today part of Tesco) and John Walden, the former CEO of Home Retail Group, on the L1 Retail Advisory Board. Clive was a pioneer of the use of data in retail organisations long before the existence of "big data". John has been at the forefront of multi-channel, consumer-driven retailing for more than 20 years.

Commenting on Karl-Heinz's appointment, Stephan DuCharme, Managing Partner L1 Retail said:

"We are delighted to welcome Karl Heinz to our L1 Retail Advisory Board and are already working closely with him. We are leveraging our collective strong track record in retail to invest in, and help build, the next generation of retailers internationally."  

Commenting on his appointment Karl- Heinz said:

"I am excited by the opportunity to work with and support investment and management teams. It's great to be back working with other retailers. I fully subscribe to this long-term approach to building successful and sustainable retail concepts and companies. I'm looking forward to be part of a group that creates the next 21^st century retail stars".

L1 Retail is also delighted to announce that Michael Casey has joined its team as Senior Investment Partner.

Michael Casey will have overall responsibility for leading deal execution under Managing Partner Stephan DuCharme, including shaping and executing the L1 Retail investment strategy across the offline and online retail spectrum.

Prior to joining L1 Retail, Michael was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where he was responsible for the retail industry within the EMEA region. During his time at Goldman Sachs, Michael led numerous M&A and capital markets transactions in the retail sector. Michael previously served as a Managing Director in the UK Advisory Group at Goldman Sachs and as a Strategy Manager at Accenture.

L1 Retail is considering investments across various retail segments, including food retailing, health and beauty, as well as speciality retailing concepts that can be rolled out internationally based on data analytics and global supply chains.