Horizon Capital, a specialist investor in business services and technology companies, has appointed three new hires increasing the firm’s investment and origination team to eleven. Aidan Connelly joins as a manager with six years’ private equity investment experience at Capitalworks Investment Partners, where he focussed on the business services sector. His transaction experience includes the MBO of IQ business a technology focused management consultancy. Connelly has degrees from Stellenbosch and Johannesburg universities and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC.   New associates Giuliana Cian and Morgan Johnson extend the firm’s direct origination capability. Cian has a degree in International Management

Level, an independent boutique which specialises in family litigation finance, has appointed Neil Purslow as Non-Executive Director.  Launched in September 2017 and backed by investment firm Quilam Capital with additional backing from Shawbrook bank, Level has continued to enjoy success.    The funder now works with over 75 law firms and has provided in excess of £15,000,000 of legal fee facilities, helping their customers to reach fairer financial settlements. Level aims to create a level playing field in litigation by providing the financially weaker party with the means to appoint the most appropriate legal team, thus ensuring equality of arms.

Ducatus Partners, the global executive search and leadership consulting firm serving the energy, private equity and infrastructure industries, has added to its North American team with the appointment of a new Partner, Jason Miller. Miller has more than 23 years’ of international oil and gas experience with 16 years’ working in the offshore energy sector. Until recently he was Vice President Americas with Ampelmann Operations following his time as President and Chief Executive Officer of X-Subsea Precision Dredging and Excavation. During his career, Miller has also held senior positions at Advanced Maritime Transports, Deep Ocean and Trico Marine Group.  

Argand Partners, a New York and San Francisco Bay Area-based middle market buyout firm, has promoted Ryan Beres to Senior Associate. “Ryan has demonstrated analytical strength and solid investment expertise during his tenure with the Argand team. His deal evaluation skills and ability to manage relationships with our portfolio company management teams and directors provide significant leverage to each deal team. We are excited to recognize Ryan’s contribution to the firm,” says Tariq Osman, Partner of Argand.   Beres has most recently been an Associate at Argand, working with the Argand portfolio companies, Brintons Carpets, Ltd., and Concrete Pumping Holdings,

Akin Gump has appointed Michael Gustafson as a finance partner in the firm’s London office. Gustafson joins from Pricoa Private Capital – the private debt investment arm of Prudential Financial Inc – where he served as deputy chief legal officer, Europe, based in London. Gustafson focuses on sophisticated debt finance work, including institutional private placement transactions, direct lending and financial restructurings.   Before moving to Pricoa in 2013, he was a partner in the London office of Bingham McCutchen LLP, working closely with the team that moved to Akin Gump in late 2014. Over the last six years, he has

HIG Capital (HIG) has appointed Ed Pallesen to lead its Infrastructure team in the US. Pallesen was previously a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where he led the Americas team at the Goldman Sachs Infrastructure fund. He started his career in Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking division, spending several years on the TMT team. He is a graduate of the Harvard Law School and Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He also clerked at the US Supreme Court.   HIG’s Infrastructure investments are focused on mid-market opportunities and target mostly operating companies that can benefit from HIG’s value added

finnCap Group (finnCap) has appointed Leigh Webb to head its private equity sponsor coverage and expand its M&A advisory business across the mid-market private equity community. Webb has an extensive track record in private equity sponsor coverage and finnCapp says his arrival will further strengthen the Group’s offering in the mid-market advisory arena with private equity backed businesses, which make up such a significant portion of the growth company landscape. Webb joins finnCap from leading business advisory firm RSM where as an Associate Director he was a key member of the team focused on UK private equity sponsor coverage for

Independent fund and corporate services provider, the Aztec Group, has made three senior appointments to its Luxembourg Private Equity team. Philippe Detournay has been appointed as Director, while Waqas Khan and Gianmaria Lombardo have been appointed as Associate Directors.   Detournay joins the Group from Luxembourg-based Axior, where he was an advisor and Non-executive Director. Prior to this, he spent 13 years as a Managing Director of Lone Star Funds, overseeing the operation of several European real estate and private equity fund structures across Europe.   Khan joins the Group following tenures with KPMG and PwC Luxembourg, where he led

Akin Gump has added two energy-focused transactional corporate and private equity partners, Shaun Lascelles and Simon Rootsey, to the team in the firm’s London office. Lascelles and Rootsey are expected to join Akin Gump from Vinson & Elkins in October.   Lascelles’s practice focuses on transactional public and private cross-border M&A, private equity and international joint ventures. He advises private equity firms, infrastructure investors and corporates regarding their complex, high-end transactions. Lascelles has particular experience in the oil & gas and energy sectors, often across emerging market jurisdictions, including Africa and Russia.   Rootsey’s practice focuses on transactional cross-border M&A

Tricor Group (Tricor), an Asian provider of integrated business, corporate, investor, human resources and payroll, corporate trust and debt services, has appointed Karen Cheung as Group Director of Business Development for Trust & Corporate Services based in Hong Kong. Reporting to Tricor’s Group Chief Commercial Officer, Cheung will be responsible for driving the development, promotion and sales for Tricor’s comprehensive range of corporate and private client solutions. Tricor’s Corporate and Trust Services group provides organisations and high net worth individuals (HNWIs) with practical solutions in corporate structuring, management as well as asset protection and succession planning.   Prior to joining