Ken Hanna Joins Compass Partners International

Ken Hanna, the former chief executive of Dalgety, has joined Compass Partners International as a partner.

Compass, a private equity and strategic advisory firm whose founding partners are Stephen Walters, formerly head of M&A at Morgan Stanley, John Clark, previously chief executive of BET, and Paul Soldatos, a former Investcorp partner, recently closed its debut $1 billion European fund, launched in 1997.

Compass defines its speciality as “large, complex multi-jurisdictional control positions investments”, and its strategy hinges on the combination of operational, M&A and private equity experience provided by its partners.

Ken Hanna brings extensive operational experience to his new position, having filled the role of group finance director at both United Distillers and Avis Europe before joining Dalgety in the autumn of 1997. Compass should also benefit from Ken Hanna’s insight into the vendor’s viewpoint: at Dalgety, he executed a “managed break-up” of the group, returning GBP675 million to shareholders and paying off a further GBP300 million of debt by June 1998.

Compass has offices in London and New York and branches in Munich and Stockholm.

The phone number for AIFI, the Italian Venture Capital Association, has changed to +39 02 721 0841, and the fax to +39 02 805 5926.

Dr Roberto Solari, previously head of cell biology at GlaxoWellcome, has joined Abingworth Management as an assistant director. After completing a PhD in physiology and cell biology, Dr Solari was awarded a Royal Society post-doctoral fellowship and went on to do post-doctoral work in Lausanne and Liverpool before joining Glaxo in 1986.

From 1990 to 1992, Dr Solari worked for Yamanouchi, where he was involved in establishing the scientific programme for the group’s new Research Institute in Oxford. After his return to Glaxo, he led a multidisciplinary team working on inflammation before becoming head of its cell biology division.

Abingworth has also appointed James Abell to the newly created post of chief financial officer. Formerly a director of Cambridge Genetics and chief financial officer of Prolifix, James Abell also previously worked as a consultant for the Medical Research Council, where he advised the founders of biotech start-ups.

Apax Partners & Cie in January strengthened its healthcare and biotechnology team in Paris with the recruitment of Dr Andrea Weisman Tobias as an assistant director. Dr. Tobias, an American national, worked as a research scientist at Triton Biosciences, as manager of new research identification at Genentech and as director of strategic development at Chiron Corp before joining Abingworth Management as an assistant director in 1996.

Charges d’affaires Frederic Rombaut and Nicolas Delcourt joined Apax’s Paris office last December. Frederic Rombaut, who will work as a member of the IT team, was formerly a global telecommunications consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers and before that worked for Bouygues Telecom in a variety of roles.

Nicolas Delcourt will form part of the group’s specialist MBO/MBI team. He joined Apax from Bain & Co, where he was an M&A and strategy consultant specialising in IT and network products before joining the firm’s private equity division, where he focused on IT buyouts

Cinven has announced director Charles Nicholson’s decision to leave the firm during the course of this year – probably around Easter – and take a break while he decides on his future career direction. Charles Nicholson joined Cinven in 1991 after 12 years in the City. He is the first of the 14 directors who participated in the 1996 MBO of Cinven to depart from the firm.

Doughty Hanson’s new US office is located at 47th floor, Carnegie Hall Tower, 152 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019, tel +1 212 265 3986, fax +1 212 254 3820.

Oliver Schumann has joined the Frankfurt office of GE Capital Equity Capital Group Europe as an investment manager. The Frankfurt office, which is headed by director Nick Money-Kyrle, was set up last year to expand the company’s presence in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Before joining the Equity Capital Group, Oliver Schumann worked at GE Capital’s European headquarters in London, where he was an associate director for business development and also co-led the pan European acquisition team of two GE Capital businesses.

Oliver Schumann moved to GE Capital from Arthur Andersen’s Frankfurt corporate finance department, where he gained experience of the German M&A market, particularly among the Mittelstand companies that are Equity Capital group’s primary investment targets.

The Equity Capital Group’s two most recent investments in Germany are IFCO, a plastic container service and logistics business, and SoftPro, a signature recognition software company.

Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts’ new London office (story, page 10) is based in the premises previously occupied by its affiliate, Glenisla. Contact Edward Gelhuly, Todd Fisher and Neil Richardson at 3 St James’s Square, London SW1Y 4JU, tel +44 171 839 2020, fax +44 171 839 2877.

Pomona Capital’s new London office (story, page 11) is at 16 Hanover Square, London W1R 9AJ, tel +44 171 408 9433, fax +44 171 408 9434.