Idinvest Partners, an investor in SMEs across Europe, has appointed Sylviane Guyonnet, COO of Idinvest and Eric Gallerne, Co-Head of Private Debt Strategy, as Managing Partners. Guyonnet and Eric Gallerne are both members of Idinvest Partners’ Executive Committee, which also includes Bavière, CEO & Founding Partner, and Benoist Grossmann, Founding Partner, as well as Managing Partners Matthieu Baret, Nicolas Chaudron, François Lacoste and Christophe Simon.   Guyonnet, joined Idinvest Partners as CFO in 2000 and in 2010 was appointed as COO. Having been at the firm for almost twenty years, today she manages a team of 45 people working in

Akin Gump is to add private equity partner Weyinmi Popo to the team in the firm’s London office. Popo, who will join Akin Gump from Orrick later this month, advises UK and international clients on private equity, M&A, infrastructure and energy transactions with an emphasis on Africa. His experience includes advising Africa-focused private equity sponsors, strategic investors and family offices on complex cross-border investments.   “Weyinmi’s transactional private equity experience will complement our recent hires in London and the firmwide Africa practice,” says Akin Gump chairperson Kim Koopersmith. “He will also add depth to the firm’s corporate, private equity and funds

Livingbridge has appointed Andy Harrington, Robyn Smith and Tom Smith as investment managers, alongside two further new hires in the business. Harrington joins the new investment team having previously worked at Next Wave Partners. Harrington worked as an investment associate for two years. Prior to working at Next Wave Partners, Harrington spent three years as a private equity assurance senior at EY.   Prior to joining Livingbridge, Smith worked at KPMG as a senior associate in the corporate finance M&A team. Smith also worked as a strategy consultant within KPMG’s global strategy group. At Livingbridge, he will work alongside the

Paul Conroy, Group Head of Real Assets and Private Debt at independent fund and corporate services provider, the Aztec Group, has moved to the firm’s Luxembourg office. Previously based in Jersey, Conroy will continue to lead the Group’s real assets and private debt offerings, with Group-wide oversight of the delivery of fund and corporate services to the real estate, infrastructure, asset leasing and private debt sectors.   Conroy’s relocation reflects the Aztec Group’s ongoing focus on further strengthening its pan-European capabilities, and reinforces the Group’s commitment to having a cross-jurisdictional Executive Committee.   While based in Luxembourg, Conroy will continue

Invest Europe has appointed Eric de Montgolfier as its new CEO. Invest Europe represents Europe’s private equity, venture capital, infrastructure sectors. A highly-experienced private equity professional, de Montgolfier joins from Brussels-listed investment manager Gimv, where he was Partner and Head of Gimv France, responsible for overseeing investment and group strategy in the market.    “It is a great honour to be joining Invest Europe as CEO,” de Montgolfier says. “I have enormous respect for the work of the association and its team in Brussels. I look forward to bringing the experience I have gained in over 30 years at private

Law firm Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) has appointed Nicholas Sheets as a partner in the firm’s global Private Funds Group. Sheets is an accomplished corporate lawyer who brings nearly a decade of experience advising Asia, US, and Latin America sponsors and investors in the structuring, formation, and offering of private equity funds as well as co-investment activities and secondary transactions.   Sheets’ practice primarily focuses on the representation of private equity sponsors in their fund formations, co-investments, and related activities, particularly in transactions involving Asia and the United States. Sheets, who is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, regularly counsels on large

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice announced has appointed Björn Killmer as a Partner. Killmer is based in the Firm’s London office. Killmer joins a CD&R investment team that has sourced investments in 16 European headquartered companies over the past two decades, representing more than USD6 billion in invested capital.    Killmer focuses on industrial investments in Europe. He brings extensive experience sourcing, negotiating, structuring and managing private investments in industrial businesses across Europe. Previously, he served as co-head of the Energy & Resources team at Triton Partners, a private equity firm. Killmer joined Triton from Goldman Sachs, where he was a

CVC Credit Partners has appointed Nick Haaijman as a Managing Director and Head of Client Services in the firm’s investor relations team. Haaijman, who is based in CVC’s London office, reports to Mike Anderson, CVC Credit Partners’ Head of Investor Relations.   Haaijman joined from Alcentra, where he spent more than 10 years in the Business Development team in London, latterly as Global Head of Product Management. He joined Alcentra in 2008 from JP Morgan, where he worked in the Structured Credit Product Management team. Nick holds a Master of Science Business Administration from Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.   Mike Anderson,

Reed Smith has appointed Colin Baker as a partner in its Financial Industry Group, based in London.  Baker, who joins the firm from Goodwin Procter, brings a practice steeped in funds finance experience acting for fund borrowers and lenders. Baker has particular experience across a wide range of fund level finance, including equity bridging, subscription line financing, investment warehousing, portfolio and asset acquisition facilities, GP facilities and carry/co-investment facilities.  He also advises a number of financial institutions, asset managers and private equity houses on real estate and private equity financings.    “Our funds finance team is one of the pillars

Muzinich & Co has appointed Alok Wadhawan to head up a newly-created Aviation Finance business. Aviation Finance will be a part of Muzinich’s growth in offerings of alternative investments and private debt. “Aviation Finance seeks to offer investors the opportunity to access cash-yielding, fixed-income-type returns on a risk-adjusted basis with low volatility. It is our view that the asset class has shown resilience through market cycles and may be ideal for clients seeking capital preservation with low levels of correlation to other asset classes,” says Alok. “Muzinich provides a strong platform upon which to build a market-leading Aviation Finance proposition.”