Édouard Carmignac

Édouard Carmignac was born on September 5, 1947, in Paris to Pierre Carmignac and Simone Pinaud. He grew up in Peru, where his father ran an import-export business, and studied at a British school, Markham College, until the age of 12. He then received a master's degree in economics from the Sorbonne in 1969, followed by an MBA from Columbia University's Business School in 1972.

After finishing his studies, Edouard Carmignac began his career in finance as a financial analyst at Blyth Eastman Dillon in 1972, a New York-based investment bank, where he "learned the ropes of the investment process" and remained there until 1974. He joined BNP Paribas from 1975 to 1976, working in the international financial operations division. In 1977, Edouard Carmignac moved to the Banque de la Société Financière Européenne, specializing in off-balance sheet financing in the energy and mining sector.

In 1984, he founded Pyramide Gestion, a fund management company, as a subsidiary of stockbroker Georges Hamant (Hamant & Cie). The following year, he was named chief executive of Hamant & Cie, the firm being subsequently renamed Hamant Carmignac.

In 1989, legal changes concerning the finance sector in France meant that individual stockbrokers were strongly incentivised to sell their firms to their banking clients. He left Hamant Carmignac that year to establish Carmignac together with Éric Helderlé, to take advantage of the fact that less than 10% of savings in France at that time were under independent fund management. Haman Carmignac was subsequently acquired by ING to become ING Bourse. At Carmignac, Edouard Carmignac managed all the funds his firm first offered at the time to French investors. The firm enjoyed its first successes in the 1990s due to its early focus on technology, commodities and emerging markets.

During the 2000s, Carmignac's assets under management increased significantly and exceeded €50 billion after the subprime crisis. He was one of the few fund managers to return positive results during the 2008 financial crisis and August 2011 stock markets fall.

In September 2018, Edouard Carmignac handed over the management of the Carmignac Investissement Fund to the firm's head of equities, David Older.

In January 2019, Edouard Carmignac stepped down from managing the firm's flagship fund, the Carmignac Patrimoine fund, and handed the fund's daily operations to the head of fixed income, Rose Ouahba, as well as David Older. Edouard Carmignac, as a member of the Strategic Investment Committee, retains his positions as chief investment officer (CIO), as well as chairman and CEO of Carmignac.

Children

Édouard Carmignac is the father of five children, three sons and two daughters.

His son Charles Carmignac was the lead guitar of the Franco-American music group Moriarty, founded in 1995. He has also been the director of Fondation Carmignac since 2017and joined the board of the asset management company as a non-executive director in 2025.

His daughter Maxime is the only sibling working in the family owned asset management company. Following employment with Morgan Stanley, Lazard Frères and McKinsey, she joined Carmignac in 2006 as a fund manager, before leaving in 2008 to work for a hedge fund in New York. Since 2013, she is managing director of Carmignac's London office. She is considered to be the primary candidate to eventually succeed Edouard Carmignac.

His second daughter, Lucrèce, is a theater and film actress.

Hugues Carmignac is the founder of two start-ups.