BerchWood Partners Adds Neel Das as Partner

BerchWood Partners, a private equity placement agent, has added Neel Das as partner. Das will work in the firm’s London office and will lead the expansion of BerchWood’s origination, project management and distribution activities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the firm said in a release. Previously Das worked for Credit Suisse’s Private Fund Group where he advised private equity firms.

PRESS RELEASE
BerchWood Partners, a leading independent global private equity placement agent, announces the addition of Neel Das as partner to lead the expansion of BerchWood’s origination, project management and distribution activities in EMEA. Neel works closely with general partner clients on their fundraising plans, positioning, preparations and marketing strategy before representing them to institutional investors. He is based in BerchWood’s London office and travels extensively.

Neel has spent more than 18 years in alternative investments as a general partner in leading private equity firms, a private equity placement specialist and an M&A professional. Previously, Neel led distribution in the UK at Credit Suisse’s Private Fund Group where he advised private equity firms on their fundraising plans, positioning and strategy before representing them to institutional investors. Prior to this, Neel was a partner at Rutland Partners, a UK mid-market private equity firm investing in turnarounds and special situations, where he was a member of the investment committee and management board and responsible for capital raising, investor relations and operations. Prior to this, Neel was a founding member of Benchmark Capital in Europe (since re-named Balderton Capital), a global venture capital firm investing in early and later-stage technology, where he raised their first European fund and launched the wider European operations. Prior to this, Neel was a director of M&A at KPMG where he managed acquisition, divestment and financing transactions for private equity firms and multinational corporates. Neel received his Bachelor of Commerce in Business and Accounting with honours from the University of Edinburgh.

As a general partner, Neel has played central roles in the formation, strategic development and commercial management of private equity firms including overall strategy, investment approach, portfolio management, team development and marketing. As both general partner and placement specialist, Neel has raised capital from institutional investors globally and led all phases of the capital raising process across due diligence, project management, distribution and investor relations.

“We are delighted to welcome the addition of such an experienced private equity professional as Neel to our team,” said David Berchenbriter, managing partner of BerchWood. “His multi-faceted experience as placement specialist, general partner and M&A professional is relatively unique. It means that Neel speaks the same language as our general partner clients and they benefit from Neel having already gone through some of the same fundraising and wider firm issues they go through. It also means that Neel has nurtured longstanding senior relationships with institutional investors globally which he brings to bear on behalf of our clients.”

Neel Das said, “I am delighted to be part of the BerchWood team. BerchWood has a strong and growing reputation in Europe, the US and Asia due to its differentiated strategy. The team works with a select few high-quality general partners each year, provides fundraising/IR services to clients on a continuous ’24/7-365′ basis well before and in-between their fundraises, and its full senior team of partners with longstanding placement, general partner, institutional investor and investment banking backgrounds all work on each client’s fundraise.”

Fund closings in 2010 for BerchWood’s general partner clients totalled approximately $1.2 billion in capital commitments. BerchWood acted as global placement agent for CBPE Capital’s Fund VIII in 2010, which secured £405 million in capital commitments.

About BerchWood Partners
Founded in 2000, BerchWood Partners is a global private equity placement agent with offices in New York, London, and San Francisco. BerchWood has raised capital from investors around the world for North American, European, Asian, Middle Eastern and African fund managers focused primarily on buyout, venture and secondary strategies. The firm’s success is predicated on fund selectivity, full-team involvement and long-term relationships with the most active private equity investors from around the world. The firm has an outstanding reputation with investors for originating high-quality assignments, which, in turn, provides its clients with better access to institutional capital. BerchWood Partners is a FINRA registered broker/dealer and FSA approved.

For more information on BerchWood Partners visit its website: www.berchwoodpartners.com.