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Activant Capital, a growth-stage private equity firm with $1.5 billion in AUM and a focus on emerging commerce companies, has promoted head of finance and chief compliance officer Adam Geisler to chief financial officer.
Since the firm’s inception in 2015, Activant has invested in more than 60 private and public companies building the future of commerce. The team has backed some of the market-leading companies in the space, including Deliverr (acquired by Shopify), Hybris (acquired by SAP), Celonis, Bolt, and Sardine, amongst others.
Geisler has over 15 years of experience helping financial organisations scale. His previous roles include senior vice
Channel Capital Cayman, an independent directorship service provider to global hedge and private equity funds and investment vehicles, has expanded its Cayman Islands team with the appointment of Martin Laufer as fund director.
Channel Capital Cayman, which serves investment funds domiciled primarily in the United States, Cayman Islands and other offshore financial centres, was established to assist with ongoing compliance with regulatory obligations through an ndependent director service.
As an experienced independent director, Laufer has been providing fund governance and related services to a variety of offshore investment funds since 2017. Prior to joining Channel Capital Cayman, he worked for
IQ-EQ, a global fund administrator with over $400 billion in AUA, has appointed Matt Okolita as the firm’s new regional CEO, Americas. Okolita previously held the role of Global Head of Outsourced Business Services, working closely with his predecessor Mark Fordyce for a number of years.
As part of this planned leadership transition, Fordyce will remain as non-executive chairman of IQ-EQ Americas.
Okolita previously led Greyline Partners LLC, a regulatory, compliance and governance consultancy that was acquired by IQ-EQ in November 2021.
Fordyce, joined IQ-EQ in 2020 with the acquisition of Blue River Partners and has steered the business
Mayer Brown has appointed Jason Friedman as a partner in the firm’s Banking & Finance practice, where he will represent borrowers, private equity sponsors, banks, hedge funds, alternative asset managers and other institutional investors on leveraged finance and private credit transactions.
Squire Patton Boggs has expanded its funds practice in London with the appointment of Rob Eke as partner in its Financial Services Practice Group. Eke, who joins from MJ Hudson where he had been a partner in its London office, specialises in private equity fund formation and investor representation. He works across several asset classes and his practice is split between GP and LP advisory work.
He advises GPs on the structuring, promotion and operation of private funds, with a focus on small to mid-market, as well as on ESG-related regulation, including SFDR and Taxonomy Regulations.
Eke’s particular focus on the fund formation side
Luxembourg-based global venture capital firm Runa Capita has opened a Paris office. Max Corbani, who recently joined Runa Capital as a Senior Associate, will lead the growth of its investment focus in the French startup ecosystem.
Global alternatives manager ICG, which manages $74.5 billion of assets across private equity, private debt, real assets, and credit, has hired Ryan Croteau as managing director, consultant relations, in its New York office.
Croteau joins ICG from Sun Life Capital Management, where he served as head of consultant relations, leading the design and implementation of the firm’s Consultant Relations Programme across the US and Canada.
Before joining SLC Management in 2017, Croteau spent more than a decade at Standish Mellon Asset Management, most latterly as Senior Consultant Relations Manager.
In his new role at ICG, he will work as part
Global investment bank Houlihan Lokey has hired David Kelnar as a managing director in its Capital Markets Group to spearhead its equity private placement capability in Europe. He is based in the firm’s London office.
Based in London, Kelnar will focus on providing equity solutions, including growth capital and structured equity, for the firm’s corporate and financial-sponsor-backed clients in the region, working closely with the US Equity Private Placements team, led by Sean Fitzgerald in New York.
Kelnar joins from Numis, where he spent three years as a Managing Director and Head of Growth Capital Solutions. Prior to this, Mr. Kelnar
Nadim El Gabbani, a senior managing director and private equity dealmaker at Blackstone, has left the alternative asset management firm. El Gabbani, who was based in the firm’s London office, focused on financial services, business services and technology deals on both sides of the Atlantic.
According to his LinkedIn profile, El Gabbani’s notable deals at Blackstone include investments in BankUnited Inc, Michaels Stores, TeamHealth, Sithe Global Power and Service King.
Blackstone’s Q4 earning disclosures reveal that the firm’s private equity arm had $288.9 billion in assets under management as of 31 December, including $86.7 billion of ‘dry powder’.
LDC, a UK private equity firm focused on investments in mid-sized businesses, has made two senior promotions with the appointment of Jacob Leone and Grant Goodwin as investment directors, effective 1 April, 2023.
Leone joined LDC’s Manchester-based team as an investment manager in 2019 and has been involved in many of the firm’s most significant tech investments, including partnerships with Manchester-headquartered digital transformation business CTI Group, games developer Marmalade, Cheshire-headquartered manufacturer Rhino Products and Alderley Edge-based software company IEG4. Most recently, he led LDC’s investment in Merseyside-headquartered Horsefly, an artificial intelligence-based talent analytics platform, and is now helping the management
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