Bertrand Talhouet

Bertrand de Talhouët is a graduate of France's two most elite institutions — École Polytechnique (engineering) and the École Nationale d'Administration (ENA). He spent roughly 16 years as an operating executive in retail before moving into investing, holding senior roles at the Printemps department stores (he directed the flagship Printemps Haussmann), Fnac, and the mail-order/distance-selling group La Redoute — experience that gave him deep grounding in consumer retail and large-scale customer operations.

He joined the Mulliez family office in June 2008 to lead the "INDEV" project, and in September 2010 the Association Familiale Mulliez (AFM) appointed him Directeur Général (CEO) of Creadev, the family's investment arm. Creadev was founded in 2002 and is backed by the Mulliez family, the retail dynasty behind Auchan, Decathlon, Leroy Merlin, Kiabi, and Boulanger. Under de Talhouët it operates as an "evergreen" investor — deploying permanent capital from the family balance sheet rather than raising time-limited funds — and has deployed well over €1.8 billion across dozens of companies, expanding from France into New York, and later Nairobi (Africa).

Beyond running Creadev, de Talhouët has held numerous board and chairman roles across the portfolio and adjacent Mulliez-linked holdings, including Chairman of Helexia (solar/energy services), and board seats at renewable-energy developer Voltalia (and Voltalia Investissement) and medical-device company Mauna Kea Technologies, among others. He is publicly associated with the philosophy of "s'associer autrement" ("partnering differently") — favoring long-term, mission-aligned partnerships over the quick returns of conventional funds. One landmark deal he championed was Creadev's September 2015 backing of Acticall's acquisition of Sitel (a business several times its size), which became the global contact-center group now known as Foundever.

• Long-term, evergreen capital: As an evergreen investor funded by the Mulliez family, Creadev explicitly rejects the fixed-horizon "quick return" model, positioning itself as a patient, multi-year partner.
• Three impact verticals: Healthcare, Food, and Climate. Public firm figures cite roughly €600M invested across ~8 healthcare companies, ~€450M across ~14 food companies, and ~€60M across ~4 climate companies.
• Scale-up stage over pure seed: Despite legacy "angel/seed" tagging in some databases, Creadev in practice backs companies that already have traction and can "scale-up and become global best players in their sector," often leading sizeable growth rounds.
• Operational value-add: Leverages the Mulliez retail heritage — offering "operational expertise," financial firepower, and a global network alongside capital.
• Mission-driven: States its purpose as fostering "tomorrow's leaders in health, food, and climate," pairing financial return with human/social and environmental impact ("Creating for People").
• Global mandate: Actively invests across Europe, the US, and Africa — one of the more Africa-active European family-office investors.