Illuminate Financial Management, a venture capital firm specialising in capital markets technology, has expanded its team with the appointment of former UBS and IHS Markit Managing Director, Roger Spooner as Head of Strategic Relationships. Andrew Patey, former Group Finance Manager at Octopus Investments has also joined as Head of Finance.   Previously on the firm’s Executives in Residence program, Spooner will now manage the relationship between buy side and sell-side institutions and Illuminate Financial’s portfolio companies, as well as its extensive pipeline of fintech firms.   Spooner spent over a decade at IHS Markit, serving in a variety of roles

UBS Asset Management’s (UBS-AM) Real Estate & Private Markets (REPM) business has appointed Stefan Rose as a Portfolio Manager in its Infrastructure Debt team. Rose’s appointment further strengthens REPM’s USD4 billion infrastructure platform, which invests in both equity and debt, and it follows the announcement of three other senior hires last month. The team now comprises over 30 professionals located across five offices globally.   With over 17 years of experience in financing pan-European infrastructure projects Stefan brings a wealth of relevant experience with him and will report to Tommaso Albanese, Head of Infrastructure. Based in London, he will be

Knight Corporate Finance, a boutique advisor based in Warrington and London, has strengthened its team with three key appointments, following a sustained period of growth which has seen the firm’s deal count approach 90 transactions. Neeraj Dhuna and David Middleton, both ICAEW chartered accountants, join as Corporate Finance Manager and Corporate Finance Executive respectively. Together they bring a wealth of experience to help support deals and increase Knight’s operational output.   Dhuna joins from Wilson Partners Corporate Finance where he worked on a number of deals including company acquisitions and disposals, MBOs, fund raisings, financial due diligence and strategic reviews.

Sidley Austin has appointed Alexander Temel and William Schwab as partners in the firm’s Boston office. They are members of Sidley’s global Private Equity practice. Both were formerly with Latham & Watkins. “We are excited to have attracted top talent like Alex and Bill as we continue to expand our private equity capabilities both here in Boston and globally,” says Robert Buhlman, managing partner of Sidley’s Boston office. “Private equity and related transactional work have been part of the strategy for expanding the Boston office since its inception. We believe having Alex and Bill on the ground working with our

Polaris Investment Advisory AG (Polaris), Zurich, has appointed Dr Hanspeter Bader, Baldomero Falcones, Dr Thomas Friese and Matthias Knab as Members of its Senior Advisory Board. “We are delighted to have gained such renowned and globally-networked experts for our company. With this step, we are substantiating our claim of having in-depth expertise and an extensive network in all areas of alternative investments,” says Rolf Dreiseidler, Managing Partner of Polaris.   Bader is regarded as a proven expert in private equity. He worked for Unigestion for 17 years, most recently in the position of Head of Private Equity/Private Assets. Friese most

Life Sciences venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners has appointed Maina Bhaman as Partner. Bhaman comes to Sofinnova Partners with a long track record as a successful healthcare investor. Prior to joining, she was Director of Healthcare Investment at Touchstone Innovations (formerly Imperial Innovations) in London (UK) since 2006. She has led or co-led numerous investments and sat on the Board of a number of UK biotech companies, such as Autifony, Cellmedica, Psioxus Therapeutics, Pulmocide, Topivert Pharma, Puridify (sold to GE), Thiakis (sold to Wyeth) and Respivert (sold to J&J).   Previously, Bhaman worked in the R&D teams of several UK

Eurazeo has appointed Virginie Morgon, the company’s current Deputy CEO, as CEO from 19 March, 2018. Morgon (pictured), will replace Patrick Sayer at the end of his fourth term as CEO and Chair of Eurazeo’s Executive Board. Morgon’s experience and key contribution to numerous successes made her the Supervisory Board’s natural choice for the CEO role. She has been an Executive Board member for ten years and Deputy CEO since 2014. She has considerable experience and a solid international business network. Morgon is a highly regarded professional in Europe, the United States and Asia and is an independent director of

Following its recent acquisition of Bento Sushi (Bento), YO! Sushi (YO!) has appointed Richard Hodgson as Chief Executive Officer, commencing in December. Hodgson was formerly Chief Executive Officer of Pizza Express, where he was instrumental in driving the internationalisation of the business.   As agreed with the Board when Mayfair Equity Partners invested in YO! in November 2015, and with the business delivering strong results and underlying like-for-like growth, Robin Rowland will step down as Chief Executive Officer but remain on the board as a Non-Executive Director. Rowland has led YO! for 18 years, taking it from three London restaurants,