Advent International Adds Six Deal-Doers

In response to increased deal flow throughout Europe, Advent International has added six new investment executives to its European team.

Three new members have been recruited to Advent’s London office: Fred Wakeman and Victor Vadaneaux, who moved from GE Capital’s private equity investment team, have joined as senior investment managers and Rory Pope as an associate from ING Barings, where he was a corporate finance manager.

Advent International manages dedicated corporate funds for of GE Capital, and Fred Wakeman and Victor Vadaneaux have worked closely with the group on GE Capital’s behalf during the past two years.

In Germany, Advent International has boosted its Frankfurt-based advisory team by the addition of Thomas Spinner, who was previously an investment director at Bayer, where he was responsible for the group’s over-the-counter investment business. Earlier in his career, Thomas Spinner spent three years with Boston Consulting Group in Germany and France, before moving to Siemens-Nixdorf Information Systems in Los Angeles. He returned to Germany in 1994 as head of German business development for PepsiCo, Europe.

Advent International’s Paris advisory team has appointed Pascal Stefani as an investment manager and Guillaume Darbon as an associate. Pascal Stefani gained experience in the retail and automotives sectors before moving into private equity at Financiere St Dominique, where he spent eight years working on later-stage investments. By contrast, Guillaume Darbon began his career at Financiere St Dominique, later joining LVMH and relocating to Hong Kong to advise the luxury goods group on acquisitions in Asia.

George Charters has joined Apax Partners’ London team as a director. Previously managing director of marketing, trading and logistics for Safeway, George Charters also worked for Boots The Chemists, Mars and Shell Chemicals. His appointment strengthens Apax’s expertise in retailing and consumer goods, one of the five sectors on which the group focuses.

Baring Private Equity Partners (BPEP) has added a new partner to its Central European private equity team. Leo Ghergina, who will be based at BPEP’s Bucharest office and will spearhead the group’s investment activities in Romania, was previously a senior investment officer with the Romanian-American Enterprise Fund.

BC Partners has added two investment executives to its London team. Both Maximillian Cartillieri and Stephan Morgan completed MBAs at Stamford University’s Graduate School of Business this summer. Coincidentally, both also previously worked for McKinsey & Co between 1994 and 1996; German-born Maximillian Cartillieri was based in McKinsey’s Munich office, and Stephan Morgan, a Briton educated in France, in Paris.

The new appointments take to 22 the BC Partners team of investment executives, based in London, Paris, Milan and Hamburg.

BT Alex. Brown International has added two sales professionals to its private equity finance group.

Lauren Seaver, who will be based in London, will be responsible for marketing private equity securities in the UK, France and Belgium. Most recently a member of the emerging markets private equity group of Banque Nationale de Paris in London, she previously worked for the Barents Group in Warsaw and Chase Manhattan in New York.

Elie Zaidan, who will be based in Geneva, will have private equity sales responsibilities in the Middle East. He has ten years’ experience working with clients in the Middle East, most recently with Banque Francaise de l’Orient.

Lauren Seaver and Elie Zaidan will report to managing director David Johnson in Geneva, who heads BT Alex. Brown’s European and Middle Eastern private equity origination and fund raising business. London-based vice president Lanna McCarthy, who covers the Northern European markets, completes the fund-raising team.

Christopher Spencer has joined Candover as an investment director. He has a brief to originate and execute Continental transactions, in line with Candover’s objective of investing as much as one third of its GBP850 million 1997 Fund in Continental Europe.

A qualified chartered accountant with French and German degrees in business administration, Christopher Spencer joined the European M&A division of Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) in 1990 and went on to become a founding member of UBS’s private equity operation, which was established in 1992.

Christopher Spencer will liaise closely with the group’s French joint venture vehicle, Chevrillon Phillipe Candover, and will also work to originate deal flow in Germany and the Benelux.

Candover chief executive Stephen Curran said the addition of Christopher Spencer, together with the appointments of Ian Gray and Charlie Green earlier this year “signals Candover’s intention to strengthen its resources to target large buyouts across Europe”. Candover shortly expects to make a further Continental-focused appointment, he added.

Coller Capital has moved to larger offices on the fifth floor of its existing premises. Its new postal address is 33 Cavendish Square, London W1M 0TT. Telephone and fax numbers have changed, respectively, to + 44 171 631 8500 and +44 171 631 8555.

Halder Beteiligungsberatung has moved to Bockenheimer Landstrasse 23, 60325 Frankfurt am Main. The firm’s telephone and fax numbers are unchanged.

As it gears up for a new fund-raising exercise (story, page 3), Morgan Grenfell Development Capital (MGDC) has made four new sub-board appointments. The new recruits, who between them boast fluency in French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, will bolster the linguistic skills of MGDC’s team as the group continues its push into Continental European markets. They also bring with them valuable multi-disciplinary experience.

Until recently, Gerard Conway was the chief financial officer and chief operating officer of a Chicago-based healthcare group; he previously worked for Booz Allen & Hamilton and Arthur Andersen.

Shane Feeney has a background in M&A and worked for two consultancies in the six years before he moved from Canada to join Deutsche Bank. Chris Hanna qualified as a solicitor with Dickson Minto before joining Credit Suisse First Boston in 1996 and becoming involved with both deal origination and execution.

Emma Osborne, like MGDC’s new head Graham Hutton, comes from a debt background. She joined RBS’s mezzanine team last year following a period of secondment to NatWest Markets from the Coopers & Lybrand MBO advisory group.

Prelude Technology Investments has appointed Dr Robert James as an investment manager. Dr James, who previously worked for the technology transfer arm of the Cancer Research Campaign, will specialise primarily in life sciences investments, working alongside the existing team of Dr Robert Hook, Andrew Allars and Alan Duncan.

Prelude is among the groups benefiting from the European Commissions Innovation and Technology Equity Capital (I-TEC) programme, which has funded part of the costs of the new appointment.

Quadran Gestion (story, page 5) can be contacted at 30 rue Galilie, 75116 Paris, tel +33 1 56 89 15 20, fax +33 1 56 89 15 21.

Simon Wheatley and Jonathan Franks have moved from HSBC Investment Bank’s mezzanine finance unit to join the acquisition finance unit of the Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) Group, headed by Simon Wakefield.

Simon Wheatley helped establish the HSBC mezzanine operation in 1989 and became its head in 1995. Jonathan Franks moved to the mezzanine unit from HSBC’s acquisition finance team in 1995.

Ewen Mcpherson, former 3i Group chief executive, has been appointed a non-executive director of Pantheon International Participations, the investment trust managed by Pantheon Ventures.

Procuritas has new telephone and fax numbers. The main switchboard number is +46 8 506 143 00. For Mikael Ahlstrm, Hans Karlander, Katalin Adorjan and Heli Pulkkinen, use fax +46 8 506 143 44. For Lars Krogsgaard, Patrik Rignell and Pelle Bildtsen, use fax +46 8 506 143 45.

Thompson Clive & Partners has relocated its Paris office to 89 rue Taitbout, 75009 Paris, tel +33 1 56 35 05 47, fax +33 1 56 35 05 14.