Blackstone Names Ex-Lego Family Money Manager as Senior Adviser

(Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Inc. has named Thomas Schleicher, who used to manage money for the billionaire owners of Lego A/S, as a senior adviser for the Nordic region. 

A spokesperson for Blackstone confirmed the appointment, saying Schleicher will support the firm’s origination efforts and deepen investor engagement across the Nordics. 

Schleicher was most recently chief investment officer of Kirkbi A/S, which oversees about 178 billion kroner ($28 billion) in assets on behalf of Denmark’s billionaire Kirk Kristiansen family, which controls the Lego toymaker. Kirkbi teamed up with Blackstone in 2019 on a £4.8 billion ($6.5 billion) take-private of theme park operator Merlin Entertainments, which owns Madame Tussauds and the London Eye. 

Schleicher previously worked at private capital firm EQT AB. His appointment follows a number of other senior appointments across Blackstone in Europe as the firm prepares to invest $500 billion in the region over the next 10 years.

Blackstone’s Nordic portfolio spans a broad range of strategies including real estate, infrastructure, private equity and growth investments. Blackstone and Permira agreed to buy Adevinta ASA, the online classified company, in 2023 for about €14 billion ($16.6 billion) including debt.

The investment firm is also working on a large-scale data center project in Forssa, Finland, in what’s expected to be one of the biggest such developments in Europe. 

In November, Blackstone appointed former Morgan Stanley rainmaker Franck Petitgas to a newly created role of vice chairman for Europe. His appointment came just weeks after Blackstone hired former Apollo Global Management Inc. executive Michele Raba as head of European corporate private equity. 

Blackstone has also added Jon Abrahamsson Ring as senior adviser for its global consumer franchise. He was previously chief executive officer of Inter IKEA Group, the worldwide franchiser of the furniture retailer.

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