Allica, the company building a digital SME bank with relationship managers, has appointed Gareth Claxton as Senior Commercial Manager. Claxton will be responsible for supporting owner-occupier businesses and commercial investment property professionals. Claxton joins from Redwood Bank, where he supported businesses as well as commercial and residential investors with their long-term property lending requirements. Prior to that Gareth held senior positions with Aldermore and Santander, managing the new business and portfolio management teams.   Launching this year, Allica aims to be a digital SME bank which will offer business customers a service that makes their business lives easier. Customers will

Juan D Reyes III has rejoined Seyfarth Shaw in New York as a partner in the firm’s Real Estate department and Public-Private Partnership (P3) practice.   Reyes returns to Seyfarth from government service, where he was the Acting Administrator and Chief Counsel for the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).   During his tenure as Acting Administrator, Reyes oversaw the agency’s staff of 950 and its USD3 billion budget. As the principal legal advisor to the FRA on all US passenger and freight rail matters, including safety regulations, legislation, research, and development, Reyes managed a legal department of

AMP Capital has established a dedicated global direct investments team in response to a growing preference for large institutional investors to gain access to infrastructure through direct equity investment. The new function will oversee direct investments made alongside AMP Capital’s infrastructure equity funds, including consortium management, negotiation and pricing, deal syndications, fund co-investments and separate accounts, focussing on delivering attractive investment solutions and supporting investors to achieve their goals.   AMP Capital has appointed Dylan Foo as Global Head of Direct Investments, to oversee the new global function as it grows this strategic pillar of its business. Dylan is currently

Growth private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners (Palamon) has appointed Philippe Arbour as a Partner, and Aqib Kadar as Director of Tax and Structured Finance. In addition, Antony Barker has been promoted to Managing Director of Investor Relations. Arbour joined Palamon in 2013 from Lloyds Banking Group where he spent ten years working across a variety of roles spanning trade finance, specialist credit and leveraged finance. In 2006 Philippe was a founding member of Lloyds’ large-cap sponsor coverage and LBO execution team. In 2010 he was seconded to London-listed 3i, as a director in its Banking team. Arbour holds the Chartered Financial

BGF has expanded its investment team covering the West Midlands with the appointment of Tom Horton, who will be based in the Birmingham office. Horton joins BGF from Lloyds Banking Group, where he held roles including Head of Midlands Business Services and Relationship Director for Lloyds’ Midlands Mid-Cap Team, specialising in debt finance and M&A. Prior to Lloyds, Tom spent nine years at Barclays Corporate Banking, in roles including Vice President of Debt Finance Origination.   Horton says: “I’m delighted to be joining BGF, which has firmly established itself in the Midlands market having continued to increase its pace of

Värde Partners has appointed Elena Lieskovska and Haseeb Malik to Partner, and promoted Brad Bauer to Deputy Chief Investment Officer. “It gives me great pleasure to announce the promotions of three individuals who have been instrumental in the success of our firm through their investing expertise, leadership and integrity,” says George Hicks, Co-Founder and CEO of Värde Partners. “Brad, Elena and Haseeb have all made significant contributions to Värde’s culture, global presence, and, most importantly, delivering returns to our investors.”   Based in London, Lieskovska is Head of European Financial Services, responsible for Värde’s private equity investments in specialty finance

Oak Hill Capital Partners has made three promotions across its investor relations and private equity investment teams. Andy Burdick has been promoted to Partner, Jake Shulman has been promoted to Vice President, and Adam Hahn and Jeff Mettam have been promoted to Principal.   Tyler Wolfram, Chief Executive Officer, says: “We are proud of the extraordinary team we are building at Oak Hill and I am pleased to share these well-deserved promotions. Andy and Jake have been instrumental in leading our marketing and investor relations efforts. Since joining Oak Hill as Associates, Adam and Jeff have contributed immensely to our

Renaissance Capital, an emerging and frontier markets investment bank, has appointed Risana Zitha as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Renaissance Capital (South Africa) and Head of Investment Banking, Africa. In the capacity of Chairman of the Board of Directors of Renaissance Capital (South Africa), Zitha will coordinate the work of the Board and supervise relations with key stakeholders, and will report to Renaissance Capital Co-CEOs Ruslan Babaev and Anna Vyshlova. As Head of Investment Banking, Africa, he will be in charge of client coverage as well as deal origination and execution, and will report to Acting Global Head