BGF (Business Growth Fund) has expanded its team with the appointment of Paul Stevens, who joins from Octopus Investments. Based in the London office, Stevens will focus on identifying investment opportunities in AIM listed companies as part of the BGF Quoted offering, which is led by Gavin Petken and Tom Jenkins and supported by BGF’s nationwide investment team.   Stevens has over 10 years’ experience investing in listed companies, having worked in the quoted smaller companies equities team at Octopus Investments, where he contributed to the outperformance of funds-under-management during that time.   Since its launch in 2014, BGF has

National law firm Shoosmiths has appointed private equity specialist Amit Nayyar as partner in the firm’s corporate team in Milton Keynes. Nayyar joins the firm from Hogan Lovells' London office, where he was a corporate partner with a focus on private equity and mergers and acquisitions. Previous to this, he held positions at White & Case and Pinsent Masons.   Nayyar has acted as lead counsel on a variety of high-profile buy outs, bolt on acquisitions, management incentive plans and exits both on domestic and multi-jurisdictional transactions. He is also actively involved in outbound and inbound investment work in India.

Mercury Fund, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs and innovation that originate in the middle of the US, has hired Jackie Pfister as marketing coordinator. Pfister, the first marketing hire for Mercury, will support the firm’s investment team in their marketing and branding efforts in order to promote thought leadership and relevant industry-related content.   Pfister will also work with Mercury’s portfolio companies in helping them reach their branding, marketing and PR goals.   “We are thrilled that Jackie has joined the Mercury team to help expand and professionalise our marketing activities,” says Blair Garrou, co-founder and managing

Capstone Financial Group, an investment banking firm specialising in the auto aftermarket, has opened an office in Silicon Valley. Located at 6203 San Ignacio Avenue in San Jose, the office will serve an automotive industry that is rapidly expanding in the area.   “Silicon Valley has become a hotbed of automotive development with Apple, Tesla, Google and others all entering the fray,” says Dan Smith, president of Capstone. “We anticipate that very soon much of the automotive industry will be centred here, so we wanted to be the first investment banking firm to establish this kind of local automotive presence.”

Nick Triantos has joined early-stage business software venture capital firm Ignition Partners as a venture partner in the firm’s new Los Altos office. Triantos will use his background in venture capital and technology to identify new strategic investments for the firm in the areas of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and VR/AR for the enterprise.   Triantos joins Ignition from SRI International, the research firm behind inventions such as Siri, the computer mouse and the ARPANET, where he was managing director of the ventures team. During his time at SRI, Triantos focused on software research labs, covering areas such as artificial intelligence

Andrew Mertz has joined JMP Securities as a managing director in its equity capital markets division. Based in the firm’s New York office, Mertz (pictured) assists publicly traded and privately held companies in the structuring and execution of equity offerings and equity-linked transactions.   “Andy has spent over 25 years in equity capital markets roles at some of Wall Street’s top growth-oriented investment banks,” says Mark Lehmann, JMP Securities’ president and head of equity capital markets. “His expertise and perspective will be hugely valuable to JMP’s corporate clients as they develop their financing strategies and seek access to institutional investors

Steven A Levy has joined Cowen’s investment banking team as managing director, head of financial sponsors. Levy is based in New York and reports to Kevin Raidy, Cowen’s head of investment banking.   “As head of financial sponsors coverage, Steve will play a key role in enhancing Cowen’s market presence across our core investment banking sectors,” says Raidy. “Steve’s experience as both an investment banker and business operator provides him with the perspective that allows him to connect with the sponsor community and their clients on a deeper level. We look forward to Steve’s successes in advancing our equity, debt

PNC Bank has appointed William Brown as senior vice president with the senior secured lending team in the Mid-Atlantic region.  Based in Baltimore, Bowen will be responsible for business development with private equity firms and middle-market companies, originating asset-based and cash flow loans.   With 30 years of banking and finance experience, Bowen most recently served as senior vice president with BB&T Commercial Finance responsible for originating asset-based loans for mid-size companies throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.    PNC Bank, National Association, is a member of The PNC Financial Services Group. PNC is one of the largest diversified financial services institutions