People
Eight Advisory, a financial and operational consultancy firm specialising in transactions, restructuring and transformation, has hired former EY senior partner, Steve Taylor to expand its valuation practice in the UK.
Taylor joins with more than 25 years’ experience in valuations, advising governments, private equity firms, lawyers and corporates. He brings extensive knowledge in the industrial products, consumer products and financial services and is particularly well known for taking expert roles on fairness opinions and in commercial litigation.
Taylor joins a well-established European valuation team of 30 full time specialists at Eight Advisory to expand the UK and to provide
UMB Fund Services (UMBFS) has hired three associates to join its business development team – Michelle Benner, Ana Burke and Jose Rincon who all join as vice presidents, business development.
The trio will focus on new business development for UMBFS’ array of services for the asset management industry which include fund accounting, administration, tax, investor services, transfer agency, custody and distribution.
In addition, UMBFS has promoted Chanté Schultz to assistant vice president, business development. In her role, she will support the new business development efforts of the national sales team.
“We are committed to expanding our registered fund and alternative investment
Financial services and regulatory partner Arun Srivastava is to join the London office of law firm Paul Hastings from Baker McKenzie, where he is head of the Financial Services Regulatory Group.
Srivastava will lead Paul Hastings’ London regulatory and fintech and payments practice.
“Arun is one of the leading financial regulatory lawyers in London and will enhance our capabilities across our finance, fintech and payments, funds and transactional practices,” says Seth Zachary, chair of Paul Hastings. “It is central to our growth strategy in London that we attract the finest lawyers in their specialisms, and Arun’s practice and pedigree
Gresham House, a specialist alternatives asset manager, has appointed Heather Fleming to the newly created role of Head of Institutional Business.
Fleming has over 20 years’ experience in the institutional arena, largely focussed on working with pension funds. She spent over seven years at Fidelity International, latterly as the Group’s Head of Institutional Distribution for UK & Ireland. Prior to this, she spent eight years at Capital International where she was responsible for client relationships in the UK, Denmark, and Iceland. Fleming’s career has also included roles at Danish investment manager, BankInvest, and NatWest Investment Management/Gartmore.
Fleming has an in-depth understanding of institutional investor requirements and boasts a strong network of pension funds, including local authority and corporate schemes, and global investment consultants.
At Gresham House,
Idinvest Partners, an investor in SMEs across Europe, has appointed Nicolas Debock as Investment Director in the firm’s Venture Capital team.
In this position, Debock will be involved in sourcing, analysing and executing investments for the Venture Capital team, both in France and in Europe.
Debock joins Idinvest Partners following 7 years’ experience working as a venture capitalist for Balderton Capital and XAnge Private Equity, where he made numerous SaaS, Marketplaces and Fintech investments focusing on the French and Southern European markets. Prior to this, he worked as Innovation Ecosystem Manager for La Poste, where he was in charge
Kai Wilhelm Franzmeyer has been appointed Managing Director with the European private equity specialist BlackFin Capital Partners.
In September he will become Head of BlackFin in Germany, where he will have responsibility for the activities of BlackFin in the financial services markets of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH).
Paul Mizrahi, founding partners of BlackFin Capital Partners, says: “Germany and the DACH region play a key role in the implementation of our European strategy. We have already invested successfully in Germany with Finanzen.de and believe that the fragmented German market for financial services offers considerable potential for further interesting transactions
Actis has appointed Ellen Li as Managing Director, Head of Asia of the Investor Development Group (IDG). Li will report to Neil Brown, partner and global head of the IDG, and will be based in Hong Kong.
Li has extensive experience in institutional sales, having spent the last nine years as the Head of Institutional Sales for Janus Henderson Global Investors in Asia. Prior to this, Li worked for Franklin Templeton Investment in Asia as Director of Institutional Sales.
In her new role, Li will be focused on fundraising and investor relations activities across Asia. Her appointment follows the
Alternative investment management software and solutions provider eFront has appointed John Legrand as Managing Director and Senior Vice President Sales for the Asia Pacific region (APAC).
Legrand will directly lead the APAC sales team, coordinate the overall regional organisation, and represent eFront in the region. John comes to eFront with over 20 years of experience in the financial software industry across a variety of functions, from sales and business development to professional services, including over 8 years in the APAC region.
Tarek Chouman, CEO at eFront, says: “I am delighted to have John taking lead of the APAC region for
King & Spalding has appointed Erik Andersen, Elizabeth Gable and Jared Zaben as partners in the firm’s Corporate, Finance and Investments practice group.
The team has joined the firm’s New York office and advises financial institutions, alternative capital and debt funds, private equity funds, family offices and other money sources in real estate related transactions.
“Expanding King & Spalding’s transactional capabilities in New York and growing traditionally strong practices has been a deliberate strategic priority,” says Robert D Hays, Jr, chairman of King & Spalding. “The addition of Erik, Elizabeth, Jared and their team will give us additional depth and
Sweetwater Capital Partners (SWCP), a boutique private equity secondaries firm, has named Gregg Parise a Managing Partner.
Parise brings over 25 years of portfolio management and principal investment experience to the firm. He will principally focus on sourcing and underwriting secondary and direct opportunities in private, high-growth companies. Since 2016, Parise has served as a Senior Advisor to the firm.
“We are excited to add Gregg’s operational leadership and principal investment experience to our investment process,” says James Gamett, Founder and Managing Partner of SWCP. “Over the past several years, we’ve been able to see first-hand the benefits of
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
