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SANNE, a provider of alternative asset and corporate services, has opened a new office in Tokyo, Japan. The company has also made the key appointment of Mark Bennett as Country Head of its Japanese business.
The opening of this new office expands SANNE’s already strong network of offices across the Asia-Pacific region and adds further capability and scope to the services SANNE can offer its clients. SANNE first established a presence in Asia in 2010 when it opened offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong, further opening a Singapore office in 2014.
Mark Law, Managing Director – Asia-Pacific & Mauritius,
Leading offshore law firm Carey Olsen has appointed Jasmine Amaria as a Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands (BVI) corporate partner in its London office.
Amaria, who joins from the London office of another offshore law firm, specialises in both Cayman Islands and BVI corporate law. She has significant experience in investment funds and corporate and finance matters, with a particular emphasis on fund formation and ongoing corporate transactions and financing activities, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, shareholder arrangements and group reorganisations and restructurings. Prior to moving offshore, Amaria spent nine years at Slaughter and May, where she trained and
Jose Castellano has joined iM Global Partner as deputy CEO and Head of International Business Development.
iM Global Partner is an investment and development asset management platform focused on acquiring strategic investments in traditional and alternative investment firms, its Partners, with an objective of growing together. iM Global Partner aims to cover a wide spectrum of high alpha strategies globally supporting its present and future top-of-the-range managers.
iM Global Partner, which opened a distribution platform in the United States mid-2018, is now accelerating its international business development’s resources for its Partners.
Castellano (pictured), will support the continuous build-up
Independent Growth Finance (IGF), the leading independent asset based lender, has made further investment in its asset based lending sales team following a record year.
With 17 years’ experience working in asset based lending and invoice finance, the appointment of Nigel Hibbert as ABL director strengthens IGF’s presence in the South East. Following this latest appointment, IGF’s ABL sales team has increased 50 per cent in the last 12 months.
Hibbert will be responsible for strengthening relationships in the South East with a focus on asset based lending and invoice discounting. Prior to joining IGF, he held the position of
Mark Knight has joined Sidley Austin as a partner in the firm’s London office. He will be a member of Sidley’s global Restructuring practice. Knight is experienced in leading complex, precedent- setting multi-jurisdictional restructurings on both the creditor and debtor sides.
Before joining Sidley, Knight served as a partner and general counsel of an investment platform that services non-performing loans in some of Europe’s most challenging restructuring jurisdictions, including Greece and Italy. Prior to this, Knight was a partner in the restructuring group of an international law firm where he advised clients on the acquisition, disposal and reorganisation of distressed
Hogan Lovells has appointed John Duke as Office Managing Partner for the firm’s Philadelphia office, effective 1 January.
Duke is a Corporate Transactional partner whose diverse corporate practice encompasses mergers and acquisitions, public equity offerings, joint ventures, corporate governance and public company compliance matters. He has advised on dozens of public offerings, including initial public offerings and other capital markets transactions, and has represented public and private companies in connection with mergers, acquisition and carve-out transactions.
In his new role, Duke succeeds Ginny Gibson, a former federal prosecutor and the first Assistant US Attorney and Civil Chief in two
Franklin Templeton Investments has appointed George Szemere as its new Head of Alternative Sales, EMEA.
Based in London, Szemere joins Franklin Templeton with immediate effect from Columbia Threadneedle, where he was most recently Head of Liquid Alternatives and Global Strategic Relations EMEA Distribution.
Reporting to Vivek Kudva, Managing Director for EMEA and India, Szemere will be responsible for growing Franklin Templeton’s alternative business in the EMEA region. He will also partner closely with the various alternative investment groups, product and distribution teams to generate new product ideas and solutions to meet the needs of the firm’s institutional and retail clients
EQT has promoted six existing directors to the role of partner, effective 1 January.
The new partners are: Brian Chang, Mid-Market, Singapore; Victor Englesson, Mid-Market, Stockholm; Stephen Escudier, Credit, New York; Carl Johan Renström, Equity, Stockholm; Magnus Tornling, Equity, Oslo; and Matthias Wittkowski, Equity, Munich.
Christian Sinding, CEO and Managing Partner, says: “I would like to express my warmest congratulations to the new Partners. They have all demonstrated a strong dedication and an entrepreneurial spirit, providing valuable contributions to the EQT platform, our culture and values. I look forward to working together for continued success as we enter the next
Fireman Capital Partners (FCP), a consumer-focussed private equity firm, has appointed Wes Mendenhall as a Principal. He will be based in Seattle and will focus on business development and strategic corporate and investor relationships.
Mendenhall brings over 10 years of experience in financial services, encompassing roles in both Institutional Global Markets and Private Client Wealth Management platforms.
“We are thrilled to welcome Wes to Fireman Capital Partners. His proven financial services skills and track record of success in providing value to his clients makes him an ideal candidate for our team,” says Dan Fireman, Managing Partner of FCP. “We
Concrete VC, a PropTech start-up fund founded to identify and support the most promising PropTech companies, has partnered with Angelica Donati, CEO of Donati Immobiliare Group.
Donati joins Concrete VC as their second venture partner, bringing extensive knowledge of the industry as a PropTech founder and CEO of Donati Immobiliare Group. She also brings over 12 years’ experience working in finance, real estate, construction and PropTech.
“I am delighted to bring my knowledge and experience to Concrete VC, supporting other start-ups at the forefront of the PropTech industry. As Co-founder of a PropTech start-up, I’m happy to be given
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