EQT's Lennart Blecher - active ownership of real assets

It all comes back to the DNA.

The firms that know who they are will know who to be.

You can learn a lot about an investment firm by listening to what they say.

Alt Goes Mainstream’s AGM Originals Series - The DNA: Capturing Culture - is dedicated to capturing the DNA of a firm by listening to what they say.

The first season of The DNA stars EQT. In Stockholm, at EQT’s AIM this past summer, I sat down for conversations with nine EQT executives.

Each executive came from different parts of the firm — and different parts of the world.

Each had fascinating backgrounds and stories about how they ended up in private markets and worked to build EQT.

But there was a single throughline threaded throughout all of the discussions: the consistency and frequency that each executive talked about the firm’s mission, vision, culture, and values.

That’s why it all comes back to the DNA.

Episode 3 features EQT's Lennart Blecher.

Lennart Blecher joined EQT Partners in April 2007 and is the Chairperson of EQT Real Assets.

Lennart holds a Master of Law degree from the University of Lund, Sweden and has studied at the University of Dallas, Texas - Academy of US & International Law.

Prior to joining EQT Partners, Lennart was from 2004 to 2007 Managing Director and Senior Banker in the investment bank of Unicredit/HypoVereinsbank in Munich. From 2002 to 2004, Lennart was Managing Director at GE Commercial Finance in London.

Between 1987 until 2002, he held various position in the ABB Group, in Zurich such as General Counsel for the ABB Financial Services Group, President and Business Area Manager for ABB Structured Finance and ABB Equity Ventures.

Lennart has held various non executive positions in European banks and reinsurance companies. Lennart is a member of the EQT Executive Committee and is a Chairperson of the Infrastructure Partners Investment Committee.

Please enjoy this conversation with one of the industry's leaders in Lennart Blecher.

You can stream all the episodes on AGM’s YouTube channel at AltGoesMainstreamAGM.

Show Notes
00:00 Why the DNA Matters

01:04 Meet EQT and Lennart Blecher

01:40 From Law to Industry

05:40 Building EQT Infrastructure

09:44 Infrastructure Megatrends

11:01 Old vs New Infrastructure

12:45 Digital Energy Convergence

14:56 Active Ownership Playbook

16:26 Scale and Credibility

17:43 Wallenberg Values Culture

20:05 Educating Investors

21:29 Who Owns Assets Long Term

22:47 Platform People Limits

23:44 Doing Good Good Business

24:34 Underwriting People Culture

25:18 Closing Thoughts