CVC Capital Partners ("CVC"), a leading global private equity firm, announced today the appointment of Duco Sickinghe to its Benelux Advisory Board and TMT Advisory Board. Mr Sickinghe will assume both roles on 1 September 2013.
Mr Sickinghe, a Dutch national, was most recently the Chief Executive Officer of Telenet, the leading provider of Cable Broadband services in Belgium, a position he had held since 2001. In his time at the helm of Telenet, he oversaw the listing of the company on the Euronext stock exchange in 2006, and he was voted best CEO of a listed Belgian company in 2011, 2012 and 2013, in a Thomson Reuters Extel survey of 9,200 asset managers and 2,400 bankers.
Geert Duyck, CVC's Managing Partner for the Benelux region, said: "Duco spent an incredibly successful 12 years with Telenet, leading it through a time of rapid growth and firmly establishing it as one of Europe's most innovative companies. I am delighted to welcome Duco to the CVC fold and I look forward to working with him to unlock exciting opportunities throughout the Benelux and the wider TMT space."
CVC Partner and Head of CVC's TMT franchise, Lorne Somerville, commented on the appointment: "We are very fortunate to have Duco joining CVC; he brings with him a wealth of experience in the TMT sector."
Mr Sickinghe began his career with Hewlett Packard in 1985, spending five years with the company before joining NeXT Computer as Vice President Marketing, and later as General Manager of France. He co-founded Software Direct in 1993, which became a joint-venture with Hachette Distribution Services. After joining Wolters-Kluwer, he became General Manager of Kluwer Legal & Tax Publishing in the Netherlands. It was then in 2001, that he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Telenet. Mr. Sickinghe recently founded Fortino through which he will focus on developing entrepreneurs and building a portfolio of investments.
Mr Sickinghe has a Master's degree in Law from the University of Utrecht and a master's degree in Business Administration from Columbia University. He is chairman of the Board of the Van Eeghen Group, a member of the Board of Directors of Central European Media Enterprises and the European Assets Trust.