Chicago Equity Partners has added emerging markets equity portfolio manager, Venkat Eleswarapu, PhD to its team. Eleswarapu joins the firm as a Managing Director and brings his emerging markets equity strategy (formerly Valant Emerging Markets Equity) from Trilogy Global Advisors, a fellow AMG Affiliate. He will continue to manage the strategy as he has since its 2013 inception, with the added resources of Chicago Equity Partners’ research team. Venkat commented on the move, “I am excited to be a part of a large team of seasoned quantitative investors and look forward to the cross-fertilisation of ideas with my new colleagues.”

StepStone Group (StepStone), a global private markets specialist, has named five new partners and six new managing directors.  StepStone partner and CEO Monte Brem says: “These talented and hardworking people have left an enduring mark on the firm; they have been instrumental to StepStone’s growth and success. We are proud to work alongside them.”   The new partners are:   Aiyu Nicholson joined StepStone in 2009 and is based in New York. She is a member of the private equity team and focuses on distressed debt and equity investments and co-investments.   Christable Yau joined StepStone in 2010 and is

Mercia Fund Managers has appointed Will Schaffer as Investment Manager. He will be supporting businesses across Yorkshire, with a particular focus on the Sheffield City Region. Will has six years’ experience in finance, most recently as a mergers and acquisitions specialist with KPMG in Leeds and previously with The McLean Group in Washington DC. He has worked on deals including the private equity-backed merger of Pharmacy2U and ChemistDirect.co.uk and the Pressure Technologies Plc divestment of its Hydratron subsidiary to Pryme Group. For the past 12 months he has been seconded to NorthInvest, where he developed an angel investor network and support

Europa Capital, a pan-European real estate investment manager, has expanded its Private Capital Markets team with the appointment of Ian Currie as Director as it looks ahead to another year of strong capital-raising to support a range of European strategies. The newly created role will also support the management and growth of Europa Capital’s EMEA-based client relationships across global real estate equity and real estate debt funds, working closely with other Europa Capital affiliates and Mitsubishi Estate’s global marketing team.    Currie brings to the role a strong track record and contact base in real estate business development and investment

Neptune Financial (NepFin), a technology-enabled lower middle market commercial lender, has expanded its presence in the Midwest by opening a Chicago office, which will be led by Matthew Kirst, Senior Managing Director.  In this role, Kirst brings deep industry knowledge and expertise to the firm and will drive initiatives throughout the Midwest.   “There are many phenomenal middle market companies throughout the Midwest and we are excited to expand our practice into the Chicago market so we can work even more closely with those companies on their capital needs,” says Albert Periu, NepFin Co-Founder & CEO.”   Kirst has nearly

Business recovery, financial advisory and property services consultancy Begbies Traynor Group has appointed restructuring and corporate finance specialist Martin Barron as a partner in its BTG Advisory team. Joining Begbies Traynor Group from Grant Thornton where he was a partner and led the firm’s restructuring team across Yorkshire and the North East, Barron is a qualified accountant with more than 20 years’ experience advising businesses and stakeholders. Previously, he spent 16 years with Deloitte LLP working within the firm’s restructuring services teams in Leeds and Newcastle.   Barron has worked across a wide range of sectors and organisations from small

GCA Altium is opening a new office in Leeds, its 20th around the world. The firm will be based in the One Park Row office development.
 The opening builds upon a very successful 2018 for GCA Altium in the region, advising on nine transactions with a total value of GBP1.35 billion. These include the sale of Deep Sea Electronics to Caledonia and the IPO of Team 17.
   The office will be headed by Managing Director, Stuart Warriner, who says: “I am delighted that we are opening in Leeds. The office will put us at the heart of the deal community

Idinvest Partners, a leading investor in SMEs across Europe, has appointed Bao Dinh as Investment Director in the firm’s Venture Capital team. In this position, Dinh will be involved in sourcing, analysing and executing investments for the Venture Capital team, both in France and in Europe.   Prior to joining Idinvest Partners, Dinh spent four years as Director EMEA at HotelTonight, a leading mobile app for last minute hotel bookings. In this role, Dinh headed up operations in EMEA and managed a multi-national team located in Paris, London and Berlin covering 15+ countries.   Dinh began his career in management,