Global Equestrian Group
Global Equestrian Group was established in the beginning of 2021. Waterland Private Equity acquired the majority of shares of Helgstrand Dressage in 2018. In February 2021 German showjumper Ludger Beerbaum Stables was acquired and joined the group as co-owner. And in June 2021 Global Equestrian Group acquired Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, (now Wellington International) and the owners of PBIEC joined the group as new co-owners.
Global Equestrian Group has activities in dressage, show jumping and events, the jewellery company Helgstrand Jewellery and equestrian accessories and apparel company Kingsland Equestrian, as well as other equestrian sports investments.
Wellington International
Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) now Wellington International was founded by Mark Bellissimo in 2006 and has contributed to transforming Wellington, Florida, into the world’s premiere destination for equestrian enthusiasts.
Wellington International arranges events and is behind the Winter Equestrian Festival, which is held at Wellington International over 12 weeks and is the world’s largest and longest-running equestrian sports event with more than 8,000 horses and more than 250,000 spectators from 43 different countries converge on Wellington to compete for over $12 million dollars in prize money.
Wellington International operates 16 competition arenas, 2,500 stalls, and provides participants and spectators with a variety of exclusive restaurants, shopping, hospitality areas, and other first-class facilities. The company has 50 full-time employees and employs a staff of around 600 people in the high season.
Helgstrand Dressage
Helgstrand Dressage is the world's leading dressage sales and training center with divisions in Denmark, Germany and the US. Andreas Helgstrand, founder of Helgstrand Dressage sets new standards in the horse business. With a skilled and motivated team of 130 employees, the company sources, develops, competes and sells elite dressage horses worldwide. Helgstrand Horses have won mulitple World Championships over the years and more than 900 horses have been sold since its inception. Additionally the Helgstrand Stallion collection, consiting of World Champions and Premium stallions cover more than 6.000 mares a year.
Beerbaum Stables
Beerbaum Stables is an internationally esteemed equestrian show jumping business with sports and trading stables as well as a stallion station located in Riesenbeck in north-west of Germany in the center of the leading equestrian sports region in Europe. Founder Ludger Beerbaum is a German four-time Olympic champion. Since withdrawal from the German national team after the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016 he has been focusing on competing at selected major shows and is also increasingly supporting his team, which includes the three top international riders Philipp Weishaupt (GER), Christian Kukuk (GER) and Eoin McMahon (IRL). Furthermore, Ludger Beerbaum focuses on the development of the event venue "Riesenbeck International".
About Waterland
Waterland is an independent private equity investment group that supports entrepreneurs in realizing their growth ambitions. With substantial financial resources from the firm’s eight fund of EUR 2.6 billion and committed industry expertise, Waterland enables its portfolio companies to achieve accelerated growth both organically and through acquisitions.
To date, Waterland has made investments in over 700 companies. Waterland consistently achieve top tier investment ratings among private equity firms and is the only fund that has consistently been in the top 5 in the HEC/Dow Jones Private Equity Performance Ranking for 10 years.
Waterland manages more than EUR 9 billion of investor commitments and has offices in Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, France, Ireland and the UK.
