Cascades

The family office operates separately from Cascades Inc., the publicly traded packaging and tissue company founded by the Lemaire brothers in 1964. Vehicles like Cascades Capital Asset Management, LLC, led by Barry Carpenter, hold real assets — including mills, farmland, and packaging facilities — outside the public company's balance sheet. This dual structure allows the family to pursue long-duration, illiquid investments that don't fit the quarterly reporting demands of a public entity.

Barry Carpenter is identified as the principal of Cascades Capital Asset Management, LLC, the primary investment vehicle documented in connection with the Lemaire family's private holdings. The firm does not publicly list a CIO or investment committee structure. The public company is led by President and CEO Hugues Simon, but the investment office appears to operate with separate governance.

Documented holdings center on real assets with an industrial and agricultural tilt: a US farmland portfolio, the Bear Island Mill in Virginia, a recycled boxboard plant in Kingsey Falls, Quebec, and a flexible packaging facility in Mississauga, Ontario. The firm does not disclose venture capital, private equity fund commitments, or public-market positions, suggesting a direct-ownership, operator-informed strategy concentrated in North American real assets.

The wealth originates from Cascades Inc., founded in 1964 by brothers Antonio, Bernard, Laurent, and Alain Lemaire in Kingsey Falls, Quebec. The company grew into one of North America's largest producers of recycled packaging and tissue products, and remains publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The family's private investment activity was built from dividends and share sales tied to that operating business.

The family's participation in Tiger 21 and YPO networks points to a peer-group orientation common among North American family offices that seek co-investment opportunities, but no specific co-investment deals with outside GPs or other family offices have been publicly documented. The known holdings appear to be fully owned or controlled directly.