As A Trusted Advisor, Melis Builds Long-term Value

General Atlantic, which has its main offices in Greenwich and New York, was founded in 1980 as a private investment firm to invest the funds of the Atlantic Philanthropies, established by Charles Feeney, a co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers Group and one of the world's most notable philanthropists. Since then, it has added capital partners who share Feeney's philosophy of investing for the long-term, building value over time.

General Atlantic has several offices around the world with $20 billion in capital under management. The firm takes a long-term view in its investments, which have spanned several industries, including Internet technology, financial services and health care. Its investments include a remarkable number of growth companies, like Uber, Airbnb, Vox Media and Buzzfeed. In 2011, General Atlantic invested in Facebook in a round of fundraising that valued the company at $65 billion. When the social networking site sold shares to the public a year later it was worth $104 billion. More recently, it took an interest in retail and consumer companies, particularly after a successful 2012 investment in the women’s clothing company Tory Burch. In December 2015, Empreendimentos Pague Menos SA, Brazil's No. 3 drugstore chain, agreed to sell a 17 percent stake to U.S. private-equity firm General Atlantic LLC for $150 million.