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DC Advisory Partners has appointed Joel Hope-Bell as Managing Director in its Business Services team. Based in London, Hope-Bell will join a team of twelve dedicated European Business Services bankers who have so far completed sixteen transactions in the sector in 2011.
Previously a Managing Director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Hope-Bell has advised on a range of M&A, Capital Markets and Financing transactions. His fifteen year career in corporate finance has been Business Services focused since 2005 and includes five years with Morgan Stanley and a further five with UBS. Joel has actively covered and worked with a number of the key public and privately owned
David Blechman has joined private equity firm HIG Capital’s leveraged buyout (LBO) practice as a Managing Director. Blechman joins HIG after leading a number of successful middle market private equity investments across a variety of industries, including take-privates, corporate carveouts and restructurings.
Blechman brings over 16 years of private equity and investment banking experience. Previously, he was a Managing Director at Tower Three Partners and a Principal at Sun Capital Partners. Prior to Sun Capital, Blechman spent five years with The Blackstone Group in the Restructuring and Reorganisation practice. He began his career with Lehman Brothers investment banking, working in
Business Growth Fund (BGF), established to help Britain’s fast growing smaller and medium sized businesses, has appointed James Austin as Investment Director to expand its presence in the South West and South Wales and to help drive investment in the region.
Austin joins Regional Director Paul Oldham in Bristol and his appointment brings the BGF team to 48 people, working from six regional offices across the UK. He has been working with SMEs for more than 15 years, having previously worked at Grant Thornton, RBS and latterly the South team of LDC.
Since its launch in May, BGF has scaled its
Paul McLaughlin has been appointed as head of operations for State Street’s Alternative Investment Solutions team in Guernsey.
McLaughlin, who has more than 15 years of experience in the alternative investment industry, joins State Street to help further build its alternative investment servicing business in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) with a particular focus on the private equity and real estate funds sectors.
McLaughlin joins from BNY Mellon in Dublin where he worked for 11 years, most recently as head of alternative investment servicing fund of funds and private equity for EMEA. He also gained experience with the
Chilton Trust Management, in affiliation with Chilton Private Clients, has hired Timothy Horan from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney as Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer – Fixed Income.
Horan, currently Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer at MSSB Fixed Income Investment Advisors, will join CPC on 3 January, 2012. In his new role, he will work closely with Richard L Chilton, Jr, Chairman of Chilton Trust and CPC and who will continue to serve as Chief Investment Officer – Equities.
Joining Horan will be four experienced fixed income investment professionals, Debra Crovicz, William McNaught and Nicholas Rafferty –
Global private equity firm HIG Capital has named Marc Kramer as Managing Director in the firm’s New York office. Kramer, who joined HIG Capital in September, 2011 to invest out of the USD1.5 billion pool of equity capital allocated to HIG’s Middle Market investments, will be responsible for all aspects of the investment process, including origination, transaction structuring, financing, and post-closing portfolio oversight/growth strategies.
Prior to joining HIG, Kramer was a partner at Fenway Partners where he spent nearly ten years investing in the middle market. While at Fenway, he led the firm’s practice in the Transportation/Logistics sector developing investment
Janet Gurwitch has joined tprivate equity firm Castanea Partners as Operating Partner. Gurwitch has over fifteen years of executive experience in the personal care, luxury, and branded consumer products sectors.
Prior to joining Castanea, he was the founder and CEO of Laura Mercier Cosmetics, a leading, global beauty brand. Under Janet’s leadership, Laura Mercier became one of the top five prestige cosmetics brands in the world.
Prior to founding Laura Mercier, Gutwitch was Executive Vice President of Merchandizing at Neiman Marcus Stores, where she set the strategy for and oversaw the entire women’s complex including beauty, ready-to-wear, and accessories. She
Dave Sauvarin has assumed responsibility as managing director of Northern Trusts’s Jersey office. Sauvarin, who was most recently head of Northern Trust’s UK listed real estate administration team in Guernsey, replaces Paul Guilbert, who has been appointed as head of private equity in Guernsey.
In his role, Sauvarin is responsible for managing Northern Trust’s Jersey office, which provides specialist services and expertise for a range of traditional and alternative assets including real estate, private equity, infrastructure funds, hedge and fund of hedge funds administration.
During a 15 year career with Northern Trust, Sauvarin has had broad experience across risk management
Glasgow-based private equity firm Maven Capital Partners has acquired HM Corporate Solutions (HMCS) and recruited Ramsay Duff to help increase the firm’s range of structured alternative investment products, with a particular focus on projects involving Business Premises Renovation Allowance (BPRA).
Duff is a Chartered Accountant with a long track record in the Scottish corporate advisory market. He was a Partner at HMCS, the boutique corporate finance business which he ran in partnership with the commercial law firm Harper Macleod LLP. At HMCS, Duff built up a strong reputation in structuring and raising investment funds, principally targeted at high net worth private investors. With
Oak Hill Capital Partners has appointed Jeff Epstein as senior advisor. Epstein, who was most recently Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Oracle, will advise on existing and prospective private equity investments, with a focus on the technology industry.
Bob Morse, a Partner at Oak Hill Capital, says: "We are delighted to welcome Jeff to the Oak Hill Capital team. He brings an extraordinary range of technology experience to the firm, spanning cloud computing and enterprise software, advertising technology, and consumer internet. With his years of experience as a senior executive leading world-class technology companies, his deep industry
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12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
