Strategy advice for private equity funds, boards and executive committees.

Arkuna is a Paris-based advisory firm and investment vehicle. We advise on commercial due diligence, strategic plans and transformation programmes, and we invest in midsize companies — in luxury, fashion and cosmetics; industry and chemicals; and technology.

What we do

Three kinds of mandate

Named by what you receive at the end, not by the verb we use to get there.

Commercial due diligence and investment theses

For funds evaluating an acquisition. Market sizing, competitive position, channel economics, and interviews with distributors, customers and former operators. Where the deal carries merger-control or sector-regulation exposure, that is assessed alongside the commercial case.

Typically 2–3 months · Go / no-go recommendation

Strategic plans and transformation

For executive committees and shareholders. Diagnosis, options, and an implementation sequence with named owners and milestones.

Typically 3–4 months · Plan and implementation sequence

Board-level advisory

For boards and their chairs. Independent review of management's plan, preparation of strategic decisions, and support on governance questions.

By mandate, or on a standing basis

Alongside advisory mandates, Arkuna invests directly in midsize companies in technology, industry and luxury.

Selected engagements

What the work looks like

Clients are not named. The shape of the mandate is what tells you whether we can do what you need.

Founder

Charles-Henri Levaillant

Arkuna is his firm. Clients deal with him directly, on every mandate, from the first meeting to the final recommendation.

He began on the public side: economic analysis and antitrust at the French telecommunications regulator, then adviser to the minister for research on new technologies and science, then four years at the French Permanent Representation to the European Union, covering industry and the information society. Merger control, sector rules and how a file actually moves in Brussels are things he has handled from the other side of the table.

He has since operated in each of the three sectors Arkuna advises, rather than only advising on them. From 2009 to 2013 he was at Vivendi, first as vice-president for strategy and development, then in an operating role at GVT, the group’s Brazilian telecommunications operator. He then spent six years at the international chemicals group Solvay as a general manager, running two business units in succession — Phenol & Derivatives, from São Paulo, then Peroxides EMEA, from Brussels — with the plants, supply chain and commercial teams reporting to him. He joined LVMH in 2019 as advisor to the chairman and chief executive, then served as chief digital officer of Louis Vuitton, and ran Make Up For Ever as its chief executive until 2024 — the same operating scope, this time with a brand to protect.

Plants and supply chain on one side, a brand and its distribution on the other. That is why his recommendations arrive with an implementation sequence attached: he has had to carry one out himself. He founded Arkuna in January 2025 to do this work for funds, boards and executive committees.

Education
École Polytechnique
Corps des Mines
MSc Computer Science
Stanford University
Operating roles
Chief executive — Make Up For Ever, LVMH
2023–2024
Chief digital officer — Louis Vuitton, LVMH
2020–2023
Advisor to the Chairman and CEO — LVMH
2019–2020
General manager — Phenol & Derivatives, then Peroxides EMEA — Solvay
2013–2019
Strategy and development, then GVT Brazil — Vivendi
2009–2013
Public service
Counsellor, industry and information society — French Permanent Representation to the EU
2005–2009
Adviser to the Minister for Research
2004–2005
Economic analysis and antitrust — Telecommunications Regulation Authority
2002–2004
Board
Director — Aura Blockchain Consortium
2021–2024
Based in
Paris

Contact

Talk to us about a mandate

A first conversation costs nothing and usually takes twenty minutes.