Paul Myners (pictured) has joined Cevian Capital, Europe’s largest active ownership fund manager, as chairman of its UK operations and a partner. “For much of the last decade I have highlighted issues within the investment industry that have led to the proliferation of ownerless corporations," says Myners. "These issues include short-termism, overly-diversified portfolios, and a preference for investors to vote with their feet, rather than engage with companies. Over the last few years many institutional investors have become better owners of their companies, but there are structural challenges that constrain such behaviour.”    “I have held Cevian in high regard

Praesidian Capital, a provider of mezzanine capital for small and mid-sized companies, has appointed Ben Marzouk as Managing Director. "We are very excited to add Ben to the Praesidian team," says Jason Drattell, Founder and Managing Partner at Praesidian Capital. "He has had an accomplished career providing debt solutions and advisory services to middle market companies and brings with him wide-ranging risk and portfolio management experience across multiple industries." Marzouk comes to Praesidian after two years as Founder and Partner of Mid-Market Credit Advisors, where he provided strategic and advisory services relating to capital raising, M&A and restructuring to private

Blue Wolf Capital Partners LLC (Blue Wolf), the New York-based private equity firm, has named Charles P Miller (pictured) as a partner. Miller will be based in Blue Wolf’s New York office and will be responsible for originating opportunities and managing portfolio companies. He will also serve as Blue Wolf’s Chief Compliance Officer. Since 1997, Miller has been an equity partner at Patton Boggs LLP, a Washington, DC-based AmLaw 100 international law firm, advising institutional investors on mergers and acquisitions and other complex business transactions including financings, recapitalisations, restructurings and reorganisations. Since 2005, Mr. Miller acted as counsel to Blue

Bay Grove Capital LLC, a principal investment firm based in San Francisco, has appointed David Brandes as a managing director. Brandes will be involved in all day-to-day activities of the firm and will bring his deep real estate expertise to new transactions and the existing portfolio. Brandes joins Bay Grove after a nine year tenure at Shorenstein Properties LLC, a large real estate private equity firm that has sponsored funds totaling USD6.7 billion. As a principal at Shorenstein, Brandes was responsible for sourcing, negotiating and executing capital transactions within the Western United States. While at Shorenstein, Brandes executed over 30

Lower middle market private equity firm RJD Partners (RJD) has completed the debt refinancing of portfolio company Chemigraphic Limited, one of the largest independent full service electronic manufacturing services providers in the UK. HSBC has provided the new debt facilities totalling GBP11million. In late December 2010, RJD secured the management buyout of Chemigraphic by offering a full equity underwrite, thus providing certainty of delivery for the vendors and giving Chemigraphic the benefit of being able to negotiate the best possible debt financing package to support the company going forward. RJD and Chemigraphic selected HSBC from a number of competitive indicative

Sentinel Capital Partners, a private equity firm that invests in promising middle market companies, has appointed seasoned business development professional, Brian Davis, to lead and continue building its new investment sourcing efforts. Davis will oversee the coverage of investment banks and other advisory firms, as well as manage the direct sourcing efforts of the firm. Before joining Sentinel, he was a partner and managing director at McColl Partners, a middle market investment banking firm, where he ran both the business development and financial sponsors groups, and led the creation of a direct sourcing model focused on private companies. Previously, he

DN Capital has appointed Maria Molland as a Venture Partner. Molland is a veteran executive from the digital media space with fifteen years of experience. Most recently she was the Global Managing Director of Lipper and Digital Ventures for Thomson Reuters. Prior to that she was the SVP and Global Head of Strategy and Business Development for Reuters Media.   Prior to Thomson Reuters, Molland was the General Manager of Marketwatch and Barron’s Online for Dow Jones as well as the Head of Strategy and Business Development at Yahoo Finance. Steve Schlenker (pictured), Managing Partner at DN Capital, says: "We

Investec Growth & Acquisition Finance (Investec), part of Investec Specialist Private Bank, has expanded its team with the appointment of Stephen White, who joins from Barclays. White will work with Ed Cottrell (pictured) and the team to originate and execute deals with entrepreneurs, management teams and private equity firms in order to provide finance to mid-market companies looking to borrow between GBP5 million and GBP30 million. The team’s focus on strong management teams and high calibre businesses means that it has continued to lend and grow throughout the economic downturn, including Investec’s recent involvement in the finance of Snow &

Mark Davis (pictured) and Russell Van Praagh have both agreed to join Dewey & LeBoeuf in London as partners in the firm’s Private Equity Practice Group.  Davis and Van Praagh both join the firm from Taylor Wessing, where Davis was head of the Private Equity Group. London M&A Practice Head Stephen Horvath says: "We are really pleased to welcome Mark and Russell to the firm. Their arrival will help to consolidate our existing private equity capabilities in London and across our European and Middle Eastern network and fortify our relationships with our funds clients.  With private equity activity very much on