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Floen
Raphaella Gomes runs Floen, a joint venture between Votorantim and CPP Investments that buys and builds energy-transition companies from São Paulo.
Floen
Floen operates as a dedicated energy-transition investment company, structured as a 50/50 joint venture between Brazilian industrial holding Votorantim S.A. and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. CEO Raphaella Gomes, previously an executive at Brazilian energy major Raízen, heads the firm, while Votorantim CEO João Schmidt and CPP Investments’ Head of Latin America Infrastructure Ricardo Szlejf sit at the boardroom intersection of the two anchor LPs. The firm deploys buyout capital exclusively into businesses accelerating decarbonization. Its mandate spans renewable power generation and storage, low-carbon fuels and alternative materials, mobility solutions, clean technology, and carbon management. Floen explicitly seeks companies with proven technologies and high-growth business models, adding operational know-how, governance, and commercial synergies drawn from both sponsors. The platform is the second energy-focused co-venture between Votorantim and CPP Investments, following Auren Energia, a renewable generation and trading company formed on similar principles. Floen’s long-duration capital base allows it to underwrite patient scaling stories rather than conventional exit-timed buyouts. The firm’s website points to a pipeline but does not yet list realized investments or publicly disclose a portfolio — consistent with a platform still in the early deployment phase. The dual-sponsor structure provides permanent balance-sheet access from two of the largest allocators in Latin America and Canada, insulating the investment team from fundraising cycles. Votorantim’s associated philanthropic arm, Instituto Votorantim, runs in parallel but remains organizationally separate from the investment entity. Floen’s structural differentiator is its embedded-joint-venture architecture. Unlike a standard fund GP raising blind-pool commitments, Floen functions as an operating company owned directly by its sole capital providers. That design lets the firm move at corporate speed on platform acquisitions and gives portfolio companies direct line-of-sight to Votorantim’s industrial supply chains and CPP Investments’ global infrastructure network. Succession and governance are hardwired into the shareholder agreement rather than a fund-lifecycle timetable, stripping out the re-up risk that shapes most private-markets investment programs.
General information
Firm type
Generalist
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Latin America
Country
Brazil
City
Sao Paulo
Corporate office
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Principals
Raphaella Gomes
CEO
Altss tracks 2 additional named team members for this firm — including direct investment leads, IR, and operating principals not listed on the public website.
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Frequently asked questions
Who owns Floen, and how does that ownership shape its investment decisions?
Floen is owned 50% by the Brazilian family-owned industrial holding Votorantim S.A. and 50% by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments). This structure means Floen invests directly off the balance sheets of its two sole shareholders, eliminating third-party fundraising cycles. Investment decisions are governed jointly, combining Votorantim’s deep operational experience in energy and infrastructure with CPP Investments’ long-horizon global mandate.
Is Floen a traditional private equity fund?
No. Floen is structured as an investment company rather than a conventional blind-pool GP/LP fund. It functions as an operating joint venture between Votorantim and CPP Investments, with a permanent capital base and no external investors to re-up. That architecture allows it to hold assets indefinitely and measure returns on an absolute basis rather than against a fund-life timetable.
What investment stages does Floen target?
Floen invests on a buyout basis, typically acquiring controlling stakes in operating companies. The firm looks for businesses with proven technologies and high-growth potential that can be scaled using the industrial and financial resources of its two sponsors. It does not operate as a venture capital firm, preferring established companies ready for operational transformation.
How is Floen related to Auren Energia?
Auren Energia is a renewable energy generation and trading platform that was also formed as a joint venture between Votorantim and CPP Investments, making it a direct corporate sibling to Floen. While Auren focuses primarily on renewable power generation and commercialization, Floen targets a broader range of energy-transition opportunities including new fuels, mobility, clean tech, and carbon management.
Who runs investment decisions at Floen?
CEO Raphaella Gomes leads the investment team at Floen. She joined from Raízen, one of Brazil’s largest energy companies. Investment governance ultimately runs through a board-level process that aligns the interests of both shareholders, Votorantim and CPP Investments, represented at the senior level by João Schmidt and Ricardo Szlejf respectively.
Does Floen maintain any philanthropic structures?
Floen itself does not run philanthropic programs, but its shareholder Votorantim S.A. maintains the separately governed Instituto Votorantim. The institute is a corporate foundation focused on education and social development in Brazilian communities and operates independently from the investment activities of Floen.
What is Floen's geographic focus?
Floen is headquartered in São Paulo and invests in energy-transition companies in Brazil. Its shareholders also point to investment activity abroad, and the firm’s public statements reference acting in Brazil and internationally, but the near-term pipeline appears concentrated on the domestic market where Votorantim’s operating footprint and CPP Investments’ regional infrastructure presence are strongest.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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