Palamon makes appointments

Palamon Capital Partners has appointed Philippe Arbour as managing director of structured finance and Antony Barker as director of investor relations and marketing. Arbour joins Palamon having spent ten years with Lloyds Banking Group, where he worked in a variety of roles spanning trade finance, specialist credit and leveraged finance. Most recently, he was a director in the leveraged finance and high yield team.

PRESS RELEASE

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”) today announces the appointment of Philippe Arbour as Managing Director of Structured Finance and Antony Barker as Director of Investor Relations and Marketing.

Philippe Arbour joins Palamon having spent ten years with Lloyds Banking Group, where he worked in a variety of roles spanning trade finance, specialist credit and leveraged finance. Most recently, he was a Director in the Leveraged Finance & High Yield team. In 2006, he was a founding member of the large-cap sponsor coverage and LBO execution team, which would go on to become a market leader in European leveraged finance. Between 2010 and 2011 he was seconded to 3i Plc. as a Director in its Banking Team. Mr Arbour holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in addition to having earned an MSc Finance & Investment from Durham University and a BBA (Hon.economics) from Bishop’s University, Canada.

Antony Barker re-joins Palamon from global placement agent Campbell Lutyens and DMC Partners, where he was an Investor Relations Associate based in London. Prior to that, he spent five years at Palamon, working across the breadth of Investor Relations and Marketing activities. Mr Barker gained a BEng from the University of Bath following which he served at the Ministry of Defence, Defence Science and Technology Laboratories.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said: “We could not be more delighted to welcome Philippe and welcome back Antony. Each is a consummate professional who brings talent and expertise to our team. Both share the high standards for excellence for which Palamon has become known. Importantly, Philippe has worked with a wide range of private equity deal sizes and structures during his career at Lloyds as well as inside 3i which makes him perfectly suited to Palamon’s signature range of mid-market transactions. Antony returns to us having gained invaluable experience which will widen our perspective and enhance our ability to support our investors.

Philippe Arbour commented: “I am very pleased to be joining Palamon following the raise of its innovative €210 million, two-year auxiliary fund. The Firm is entering a very exciting period as it makes some substantial realisations, executes key re-financings within the portfolio and transacts on its strong pipeline of primary deals and add-on acquisitions. I am thrilled to be joining such a high-calibre pan-European team.”

Antony Barker commented: “I am delighted to be back at Palamon. The portfolio is in great condition and the Firm’s track record is getting even stronger. Palamon has maintained robust support from a dedicated core of sophisticated investors during a period of uncertainty in the European markets. But there are now clear signs of a resurging appetite for European private equity managers as the perception of the region improves and investors look to re-balance their allocations. We will be well positioned for our future return to the market.”

Palamon recently announced the sixth exit from its €670 million 2006 fund, Palamon European Equity II, with the agreed sale of Cambridge Education Group for a 14.6x return on invested capital, £141 million capital gain and 58% IRR. Palamon II to date has generated cash proceeds of €660 million and a 3.6x return and 28% IRR on fully realised investments. Palamon II still has €60 million of capital available for investment and 11 high growth companies remaining in its portfolio, including; Retail Decisions, a global fraud prevention provider for card-based and on-line transactions; IDH, the largest NHS dental practice group in the UK and OberScharrer Group, a leading ophthalmic healthcare business in Germany.

ENDS

Enquiries:

Patrick Evans / Jamie Brownlee
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Tel: +44 20 7638 9571

Notes to editors

Palamon Capital Partners

Palamon Capital Partners, LP is an independent private equity partnership founded in 1999, which is focused on providing equity for European growth services companies. Palamon, as a pan-European investor, originates, executes and manages investments in the UK, Germany, Benelux, Italy, Spain, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The Firm targets investments in companies where it can be the lead private equity provider and where it can provide strategic direction and partner with management to help build equity value. The Firm manages funds with €1.3 billion of equity capital for investment.

For more information on Palamon refer to www.palamon.com

Jamie Brownlee
Associate Director

DDI: +44 (0)20 7282 2858
Tel: +44 (0)20 7638 9571
Mob: +44 (0)7595 963 220

Citigate Dewe Rogerson