This week’s job posting is for a Hong Kong-based senior associate position on the secondaries team of a well respected global fund-of-funds manager.

HarbourVest has recruited Stuart Howard as Chief Operating Officer, European Listed Products. Based in London, Stuart is responsible for overseeing HarbourVest’s role in the operations of HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited and HarbourVest Senior Loans Europe, two listed investment companies managed by HarbourVest affiliates. PRESS RELEASE HarbourVest today announced that Stuart Howard has joined the [...]

Stuart Howard has joined HarbourVest as Chief Operating Officer, European Listed Products. He will be based in London and will be responsible for overseeing HarbourVest’s role in the operations of HarbourVest Global Private Equity Ltd. and HarbourVest Senior Loans Europe. Howard joins from 3i.

London-based fund manager Pantheon has appointed two senior executives to its product development and client services teams in the UK and US. Amanda McCrystal joins Pantheon’s London office as a principal, leading the strategic development of new product and distribution initiatives. She joins from HarbourVest where she headed up strategic business development. Yokasta Baez joins Pantheon’s New York office as a vice president in the global client services team. She joins from AXA Private Equity where she was manager of North American investor relations and business development.

Investment firms are being spun out of banks left and right—some, to keep companies in compliance with the new requirements imposed on banks via Dodd-Frank. peHUB has been tracking some of the spin-outs seeking capital, and some others, that have not yet needed to fundraise—but soon, might. While the fundraising market has been generous to some private equity firms, other PE shops could face difficulty bringing in capital absent of their big-brother LPs. Only time will tell….

Steve Belgrad is joining Old Mutual Asset Management where he will be CFO. Belgrad is currently CFO of HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited. His move to OMAM is effective June 1. Also, Aidan Riordan, a partner at Calvert Street Capital Partners, is joining OMAM as SVP and director of affiliate development on July 1, according to a statement. OMAM is the asset management business of Old Mutual.

Initial public offerings by U.S.-based buyout shops so far this year include some heavy hitters, but how are the portfolio companies that went public in 2010 doing? The table below looks at 10 with the highest returns through Friday.

As of March 18, 2011, Oasis Petroleum Inc. has performed the best of the class of 2010 based on the increase in its stock price. Its shares are trading 52.96 112.57 percent higher compared with its IPO price. EnCap Investments LP’s Oasis Petroleum went public on June 17. It raised $588 million through the sale of 42 million for $14 a share. The Houston-based oil and gas explorer and producer ended Friday at $27.76.

Simon Lund has joined HarbourVest Partners as head of sales and marketing for Europe and MENA. He previously was with SVG Advisors.

LONDON (Reuters) – British private equity group 3i (III.L) has agreed to sell a portfolio of investments in small European companies to a consortium of rivals for around 130 million pounds ($217 million). 3i said on Sunday it had sold the assets to a consortium including fellow private equity and venture capital firms Coller Capital, [...]

As usual, I have a week and a day’s worth of Moody’s and S&P downgrades on PE-backed companies. This week, there were nine new ones, including two backed by Warburg Pincus and two from Bain Capital. (Apologies for the delay as I was out Friday and Monday)

Company: Rafaella Apparel Group
Sponsor: Cerberus Capital Management
Downgrade: S&P announced a corporate credit rating downgraded from ‘CCC’ from ‘B-’.The outlook is negative.
Highlights: “We estimate that leverage may increase to over the 11.5x area (assuming debt levels do not increase significantly from current levels) if revenues decline by about 13% for fiscal 2009 from fiscal 2008 levels and EBITDA margins remain in the low single digits, which may reduce Rafaella’s net income covenant cushion.”