Aurelius Group

The firm was founded by Dirk Markus and Gert Purkert, who remain the most senior decision-makers. Aurelius operates with a high level of individual empowerment, but the co-founders have guided the platform's expansion from a small turnaround shop into three asset classes across nine offices.

Aurelius deploys a dedicated in-house operations team, Aurelius WaterRise, with more than 180 specialists. They work directly inside portfolio companies on operational transformation, which the firm credits with enabling them to manage complex carve-outs and platform build-ups that depend on hands-on execution rather than financial engineering alone.

Aurelius is an asset manager. It raises discretionary private equity and private debt funds, most recently a EUR 830 million mid-market carve-out fund, and invests across private equity, private debt, and real estate with an operational approach.

The firm specializes in corporate carve-outs from large industrial groups, platform build-ups, and succession solutions. It also provides bespoke debt financing. Its deal history includes transforming a Smurfit-Kappa paper division into Solidus Solutions and scaling the electronics distributor Distrelec.

Aurelius WaterRise is a captive operations advisory unit, not an external consultancy. It began with four specialists and has grown to over 180. Its practitioners are embedded within portfolio companies to manage the operational complexity of carve-outs and add-on integrations.

The firm is headquartered in London and operates from nine offices across Europe and North America. European locations include Stockholm, Amsterdam, and Milan, and the firm opened a New York office to drive its North American expansion strategy.

Aurelius manages discretionary commingled funds. Investors commit to vehicles such as the mid-market private equity fund series, which was raised for carve-out transactions, as well as a dedicated growth equity fund. The firm also operates private debt and real estate investment platforms.