Andrew Nikou founded OpenGate Capital in 2005. He is the Founder & CEO and a member of the firm’s Investment and Portfolio committees, responsible for deal origination, M&A, operations and for the overall management, strategy and operations of the firm. Mr. Nikou guides OpenGate with a disciplined investment strategy focused on acquiring underperforming or non-core businesses that are most often divisions of Fortune 1000 companies, infusing them with the human and financial capital needed to rejuvenate the business, and improve their overall performance and value. Prior to starting OpenGate, Mr. Nikou was a business development professional at Platinum Equity where he was instrumental in establishing the firm’s first European office in Paris. Mr. Nikou formed OpenGate through his own capital of just $30,000.00, and soon thereafter leveraged the success of each transaction enabling the firm to conduct successively larger transactions throughout North America, Western Europe and Latin America. Through OpenGate’s pre-fund period and the firm’s institutional fund, the firm has acquired businesses from Solvay, KPN, StoraEnso, Cascades, Philips, Le Monde, Umicore, Axiall Corporation, Wolseley plc, Saint-Gobain, Essentra, and Stanley Black & Decker. The firm became well known following its 2008 acquisition of the iconic TVGuide Magazine for $1 and the assumption of $50 million in liabilities. Over the course of nearly seven years, Mr. Nikou guided a turnaround at the magazine from a business that was losing significant money to one that was profitable, eventually selling the publication to a strategic acquirer. Mr. Nikou is an active member of the Los Angeles community involved in a number of philanthropic causes. He is the Founder of the Andrew Nikou Foundation, which is committed to support and empower those who may otherwise lack access to the necessary tools and opportunities to thrive, gain confidence, succeed and, in turn, inspire and help others. Mr. Nikou is also a Board Member at GoalsWell, and at YELLOW, a non-profit organization founded by Pharrell Williams to even the odds for all youth through education. Mr. Nikou holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.
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