Middle market private equity firm Calera Capital has appointed Bob Bianco, former CEO of Menlo Worldwide, as an Operating Partner. Bianco will assist Calera with investments in the transportation and supply chain management space with a particular focus on the third party logistics (“3PL”) sector. Calera intends to commit USD40 to USD200 million of equity per investment in a range of transaction types which are primarily focused on family/founder owned businesses but may also include recapitalizations of private and public companies, corporate divestitures, and growth equity investments. James Halow, Managing Director at Calera, says: “Bob is well-known to Calera through

BGF (Business Growth Fund) has appointed Alice Avis MBE, formerly Chief Executive and Chair of The Sanctuary Spa, to its board as a Non-Executive Director. Ali Avis ce will bring significant international marketing, e-commerce and executive experience to BGF. During her time at Sanctuary, Avis oversaw a trebling of the business’s value and its sale to PZ Cussons. Most recently she served as Executive Chairman for Lumene Oy, a Finnish skincare and cosmetics company. She is currently a Non-Executive Director at The Edrington Group, a privately-owned international spirits company, and Cyden Limited, a British beauty and health company, as well

Cooley is enhancing its global private equity group with the appointment of three new partners.  Ron Hopkinson joins in New York from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, where he was head of the firm’s private equity group. Eric Schwartzman joins in Palo Alto from Weil, Gotshal & Manges’ Silicon Valley office. Hopkinson and Schwartzman, former partners of Latham & Watkins, worked extensively together in New York representing a myriad of private equity sponsors. In London, Stephen Rosen joins the firm from Olswang, where he was head of the private equity and venture capital group. “This is a defining moment for Cooley,”

International law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges has appointed James MacArthur as a partner in the firm’s Corporate practice. He will be based in Weil’s London office and will focus on private equity and M&A transactions in the infrastructure and real estate sectors.  MacArthur joins from Herbert Smith Freehills, where he is a partner. He has broad experience acting for both corporate and private equity sponsors across infrastructure and real estate. At Weil, MacArthur will focus on boosting the Firm’s global private equity and M&A infrastructure and real estate offering across the US, Europe and Asia. He will specialise in

Norwest Equity Partners (NEP) and Norwest Mezzanine Partners (NMP), have hired Charles P Moorse to serve as the firms' in-house General Counsel.  In this role, Moorse will have responsibility for providing leadership, expertise and support on a wide range of legal matters. NEP and NMP have consistently made successful investments and generated exceptional returns through a singular focus on building companies into industry leaders. With $5.5 billion of combined capital under management, NEP and NMP are affiliated investment firms with strategies focused on providing capital to middle market businesses. Both funds possess flexibility and breadth in their investment charters, giving

Lovell Minnick Partners, a private equity firm specialising in financial and related business services companies, has named Steven C Pierson as President and Partner.  Pierson, who will start his duties at Lovell Minnick in June, comes to the firm from UBS, where he most recently served as the Head of FIG Investment Banking Americas and Global Head of Financial Technology & Services.  He was also a member of the investment committee for the UBS FinTech Strategic Investment Group.   "On behalf of our partners, we are delighted to welcome Steve Pierson to Lovell Minnick, and to the already strong financial

Private equity corporate partner David Holdsworth and private equity tax partner Tim Lowe are to join the London office of Kirland & Ellis International from Linklaters. “David and Tim are exceptionally talented lawyers with strong track records advising clients on a variety of international private equity transactions,” says Jeffrey C Hammes, Chairman of Kirkland’s Global Management Executive Committee. “We look forward to them joining the Firm and further strengthening our European transactional private equity practice in London.” Holdsworth holds a bachelor of laws from the University of Edinburgh. He is recognised as a ‘Leading Individual’ in the ‘Corporate/M&A: high-end capability’

Bryan, Garnier & Co, a pan-European Investment Bank focusing on growth companies, has appointed Pierre Kiecolt-Wahl as Managing Director, ECM, where he will lead Bryan, Garnier & Co’s equity capital markets efforts throughout Europe.  “Over the past 15 years, Pierre has gained significant experience in advising innovative growth companies and investors in our core sectors of expertise, dealing with a wide variety of situations in more than twenty different markets across Europe, Asia and the US,” says Greg Revenu, Managing Partner and co-founder of the group. “He adds critical insight and equity capital market expertise to our firm, so we

Squire Patton Boggs has appointed Colin Stirling as a senior business advisor in the Global Corporate Practice. Stirling was previously a partner at private equity fund manager Spirit Capital in Leeds. Stirling has over 20 years’ experience in private equity investment. Having qualified as an accountant with KPMG, he moved into corporate finance, specialising in providing buy and sell side advice to private equity investors. Stirling then worked for NatWest Ventures and Aberdeen Asset Managers Private Equity, before participating in two management buy-outs to create private equity fund managers Bridgepoint and Spirit Capital.    Leeds private equity partner, Jonathan Jones,