Acton Capital is expanding its team in Europe and its presence in North America with the addition of Sophie Ahrens-Gruber to the firm’s investment team in Munich and the promotion of Hannes Blum – portfolio entrepreneur, former VP Amazon, and CEO of AbeBooks – to partner to head the firm’s investments in Canada and the US. Since 1999, Acton Capital has been investing in tech-enabled business models and has supported more than 100 startups across industries, including global category leaders like AlphaSights (UK), Clio (CAN) or Mambu (GER). The announcement follows the successful first closing of Acton Capital’s sixth venture fund

Luminate Capital has named Lucy Li as managing director, Portfolio Finance, based in San Francisco. Prior to Luminate, Li worked in finance and business planning at Meta (formerly Facebook Inc). Her previous experience also includes investment banking at JPMorgan and private equity investing at Genstar Capital.  Li graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a BS in Management Science and received an MBA and an MA in Education from Stanford University. 

Richard Haight has joined Nuveen Natural Capital as Head of Global Timberland Transactions. In his new role, Haight will be a member of the leadership team and will focus on pipeline development, transactions (both acquisitions and dispositions), and capital deployment.   Most recently, Haight served as Head of TTG Forestry Services and US Operations for BTG Pactual’s Timberland Investment Group (TIG), supporting the management of TIG’s $3.5 billion in global AUM in both the US and abroad. Before joining TIG in 2015, Haight spent six years as Chief Operating Officer working for Brookfield’s Timber Funds in Brazil. Haight played a

Impax, an AIM-listed sustainable economy investor has appointed Annette Wilson as non-executive director, effective 28 June, 2022. Wilson, who will sit on the Company’s Audit & Risk and Remuneration Committees, has spent over twenty years in the private equity and venture capital sector. She is a former Partner and COO of Finch Capital and was founding CFO of Palamon Capital Partners, a European growth investor.   Prior to joining the private equity sector, Wilson worked in the insurance sector at Sedgwick plc, a FTSE 100 company in various roles in the UK, USA and Europe and thereafter was CFO of

Wieger Fokke is to join ILX Management as investment manager financial institutions and corporate, effective 1 August, 2022. Fokke will be responsible for the investments across the Financial Institutions and Corporate sector alongside ILX’ global MDB and DFI partners. He joins ILX from the Dutch Development Bank FMO where he currently is Senior Investment officer in the Financial Institutions department Africa team.  Fokke, a Dutch national and a graduate from the University of Amsterdam, has more than 12 years of experience in emerging market development finance. He has been responsible for origination and execution of a wide variety of financing

Impax Asset Management (Impax), the specialist asset manager investing in the transition to a more sustainable economy, has appointed Charles (Charlie) French as deputy chief investment officer, Listed Equities.

Global law firm Goodwin has appointed Daniel Dusek as a partner in the firm’s global Private Equity practice in Hong Kong. Dusek has over 20 years of experience advising on complex, cross-border corporate matters, including mergers and acquisitions, disposals, auctions, private equity and leveraged buyouts, take-privates, spin-offs and joint ventures, for leading private equity investors and corporations.  He is recognised as a leading corporate/M&A and private equity lawyer by Chambers Asia-Pacific, Chambers Global and The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific and was named as one of the Global Elite Thought Leaders for M&A and Governance in Asia Pacific by Who’s Who Legal

The Riverside Company, a global private investor focused on the smaller end of the middle market, has appointed Dörte Höppner to the newly formed role of chief sustainability officer. Höppner will oversee and drive forward ESG initiatives across Riverside globally. Dörte, who joined Riverside in 2017, will continue to be based in Europe and report directly to The Riverside Company Co-CEOs, Stewart Kohl and Béla Szigethy.    In her new role, Höppner will take on responsibility for identifying ESG initiatives and harmonising the integration of these within Riverside’s various fund families, working closely with the managing partner of each Fund

SK Capital Partners (SK Capital), a private investment firm focused on the specialty materials, specialty chemicals, and pharmaceuticals sectors, has appointed Asim Bhatia as director, business development. Bhatia will be based in New York and brings nearly 25 years of strategic corporate development, M&A, investment banking, and corporate banking experience to SK Capital. In this role, he will coordinate and lead the firm’s efforts to identify and develop new investment opportunities.   Prior to joining SK Capital, Bhatia was a Senior Director of Corporate M&A at DuPont de Nemours, Inc, where he led both the acquisitions and divestitures of several

Palatine has strengthened its team with the appointment of Danielle Garland as investment director in its Buyout team based in London. Garland joins from Mobeus Equity Partners having worked in M&A since 2008. At Palatine, she will be responsible for deal origination, execution, and working with management teams to deliver their strategy post investment. Throughout her career, Garland has been a passionate advocate of increasing diversity in the profession, founding a series of highly successful events that connect female investors, founders and advisors within the private equity community. She will continue to drive this ambition forward at Palatine, given the