Bluegem Capital Partners Appoints Ibrahim Najafi as Chief Transformation Officer
London, 16th September 2026
We are delighted to welcome Ibrahim Najafi as Chief Transformation Officer, who joins Bluegem's senior leadership team to further strengthen the firm's operational capabilities and build on its approach to active management and value creation across the portfolio.
The appointment marks a significant milestone in the continued evolution of Bluegem's investment platform and reflects Bluegem’s conviction that operational excellence, not financial engineering, drives outsized returns in real economy staples investing. By bringing Ibrahim Najafi into a core strategic role, Bluegem is further strengthening the operational capability at the heart of its active ownership model.
Mr Najafi’s appointment also builds on the perspective Lagfin, the controlling entity of the Campari Group, brings as a strategic partner and shareholder in Bluegem since 2025. With multi-generational expertise, Lagfin views value creation through an owner-operator lens that closely matches Bluegem’s own.
Ibrahim Najafi brings exceptional pedigree. He spent decades in senior management in the consumer staples sector, progressing through leadership roles at R&R Ice Cream before assuming the role of Group CEO in 2013. In 2016, he led the merger of R&R with Nestlé’s European ice cream business to create Froneri. As CEO of Froneri, he was instrumental in one of the most significant Private Equity-backed success stories within the broader consumer sector, having transformed the company from a c.€700m revenue operation in 2013 into the second-largest ice cream company in the world, generating over €5.5bn in revenue and sector-leading profitability by his retirement in August 2024. During his tenure as CEO of R&R and Froneri, Mr Najafi executed a series of transformational acquisitions including in Australia (2014), South Africa (2015), and Nestlé’s US ice cream business (2020), all of which were marked by significant improvements in growth and profitability.
What distinguishes Mr Najafi is his hands-on operational approach: he has built competitive advantage by addressing recurring operational challenges through a single set of operating disciplines spanning procurement, supply chain, production efficiency, culture and people development. In his new role within Bluegem, Mr Najafi will be responsible for implementing this philosophy across the firm’s investment and ownership activities. He will take active roles in executing Bluegem’s investments, will join the Investment Committee, and, most notably, will design and oversee the firm’s ownership and portfolio strategy, in which systematic operational improvement is the most important lever to generate alpha.
Emilio Di Spiezo Sardo, Chief Executive Officer of Bluegem, commented:
“Operational excellence and active portfolio management have always been central to how we create value at Bluegem. As our strategy has evolved, we have continued to invest in strengthening these capabilities across the firm. By bringing Ibrahim on board as Portfolio Chief Transformation Officer, we're reinforcing this commitment. He has implemented operational excellence at a level very few CEOs have, and we are excited to bring his approach and expertise to our businesses. Having him on the Investment Committee and alongside our portfolio teams represents a structural evolution in how we assess, own and improve businesses, and builds out our competitive advantage in the mid-market.”
Ibrahim Najafi, Chief Transformation Officer at Bluegem, added:
“Throughout my career, and particularly during my time at Froneri, I’ve seen first-hand that sustainable value is created by people – when the whole organisation is aligned behind a clear strategy, every function is pulling in the same direction, and decisions are made well and executed with pace. That principle applies to businesses of every size and at every stage of development. What attracted me to Bluegem is that it brings the same hands-on, entrepreneurial mindset to investing, which is rare. I am looking forward to working alongside the Bluegem and management teams across the portfolio to turn that philosophy into tangible, long-term value creation.”
Mr Najafi's onboarding will be followed by further appointments to Bluegem's portfolio management team over the coming months, further embedding the firm's commitment to operational excellence across its portfolio. These appointments will strengthen specific functional areas and deepen Bluegem's ability to identify and execute value creation across its platform of real economy staple businesses.
About Bluegem Capital Partners
Bluegem is a European mid-market specialist private equity firm investing in real-economy verticals through B2B and B2B2C entry points. Bluegem targets specific sectors with resilient end demand and structural tailwinds, investing where markets are growing ahead of GDP. The Bluegem team works alongside experienced Portfolio Managers and Functional Experts to deploy a proven value-creation playbook to transform businesses, including data-driven commercial excellence, 360-degree digitalisation, international expansion, and product innovation. With c.€1bn raised and managed to date and a track record across multiple economic cycles, Bluegem combines a specialised operating platform with a differentiated ability to interpret end demand signals and translate them into higher-value, upstream investment opportunities. Since 2025, Bluegem has had a strategic minority shareholder in Lagfin, the Campari family office, whose multi-generational expertise in food and beverage aligns closely with one of Bluegem’s core subsectors.
Media Contacts
Benedetta Negri da Oleggio
+44 7838 029970
Emma Hodges
+44 7861 995628