Private equity firm GI Partners has appointed Philip Yau as Managing Director with responsibility for strategic origination and business development opportunities, He will also oversee the investor relations team, and manage the firm’s co-investment efforts.  Yau joins GI Partners after 24 years in investment banking, including 12 years in the UBS Private Funds Group, a global fund placement and secondary LP advisory practice. In his role as Managing Director and co-Head of the North American team, Mr. Yau advised numerous private equity, infrastructure, distressed, and venture capital firms, as well as limited partners around the world.     “We are delighted to

Private equity investor LDC has strengthened its Yorkshire and North East team with the appointment of senior corporate finance specialist, Gareth Marshall, as an Investment Director. The expansion is part of LDC’s nationwide pledge to invest GBP1.2 billion of equity in UK small and mid-sized companies over the next three years, with Yorkshire and the North East seen as an important region of opportunity.    Gareth previously spent circa eight years at PwC, where he was M&A Director in the firm’s corporate finance team, advising on mid-market transactions across the pharmaceuticals, healthcare, manufacturing, industrial products and chemicals sectors.   He

Duff & Phelps, a global valuation and corporate finance adviser, is pleased to announce that Christian Mouillon has joined the firm as a Global Senior Adviser. Mouillon brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the firm as a former Global Vice Chairman at EY. He will focus on growth in the firm’s Valuation Practice internationally and representing Duff & Phelps in it’s ongoing dialogue with professional associations and other regulatory bodies.     Jacob Silverman, President at Duff & Phelps, says: “We are delighted that Christian has agreed to become a Global Senior Advisor, bringing significant expertise across sectors and geographies

Munich Venture Capital firm Target Partners has appointed Jan Wolter as Venture Partner. A successful founder and executive, Wolter will contribute his experience in enterprise software to the Target Partners network. Wolter is Managing Director for Europe at Applause, the a specialist in In-The-Wild Software Testing. Previously he was co-founder and CEO of Testhub, which merged in May 2014 with its US competitor Applause. Under Wolter’s leadership since then, the company has expanded into 10 countries and achieved 30x revenue growth.   “As a founder, I came to appreciate Target Partners back in 2014. I was impressed with their focus

Leveraged finance lawyer Lorraine Vaz is the latest partner to join McGuireWoods in London, as the firm positions to meet growing demand in the UK for US-style leveraged financings. She comes to McGuireWoods from King & Wood Mallesons, where she was a partner. Vaz is the third partner to join the London office since February, following debt finance partner Jennifer Kafcas and M&A partner Jeremy Davis.   Vaz brings deep knowledge of the leveraged finance market and an established reputation in her field. Able to work on both lender and borrower financings, her clients include banks, debt funds and other financial institutions, as well as

Octopus has appointed Helen Cowing as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Group. The appointment comes as the Group embarks on its ambitious next phase of growth. This includes plans to almost triple institutional assets under management over the next five years, and reach two million energy customers over the next decade.    Cowing has extensive experience leading and developing the finance function for a number of leading companies, most recently as Group CFO for ISG plc. Prior to that she was CFO for American Golf, Fat Face and the Selecta Group.   Cowing has worked across a range of

Growth private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners (Palamon) has appointed Oliver Hemsley and Josyane Gold to its Board of Advisors. Hemsley is the founder and former CEO of Numis Securities, the London-listed small and mid-cap capital markets specialist. Under his 25 year leadership, Numis became one of the UK’s most respected institutional stockbrokers and corporate advisors, employing more than 200 staff.    Gold joins the Board of Advisors having spent nearly 25 years as a Partner at SJ Berwin (latterly King & Wood Mallesons) where she specialised in structuring private and public investment funds, including private equity, infrastructure and venture capital.

Consumer-focused private equity firm Fireman Capital Partners (FCP) has promoted Chris Akelman to Principal and Ekta Sharma to Vice President. “We are pleased to announce the promotion of two highly talented members of the Fireman Capital team,” says Dan Fireman, Managing Partner of FCP. “Both Chris and Ekta have been instrumental in the success of our firm, and these promotions are a testament to their strong work-ethic, investment expertise and valuable insight. We look forward to their continued success.”   Since joining Fireman Capital Partners in 2012, Akelman has been responsible for evaluating and executing new investment opportunities and supporting

Astarte Capital Partners, a specialist alternatives co-investment platform with a focus on real assets, has made three appointments to its London-based team. The three new hires will reinforce Astarte’s ability to invest in niche real assets by forming partnerships with seasoned operating teams. The new recruitments come at the time when institutional investors globally are demonstrating strong interest for the real assets backed strategies that Astarte is focusing on. Astarte is in the process of concluding arrangements to set up outposts in Sydney and Zurich, to be followed by New York.   “Together with the appointment of three solid investment