Law firm Dechert has hired Thomas P. Vartanian, David L. Ansell and Robert H. Ledig as partners in the Washington, D.C. office. All three were previously partners at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, where Vartanian served as chair of the financial institutions transaction group.    Vartanian, Ansell, and Ledig have worked together for more than 25 years counselling commercial and investment banks, holding companies, housing-oriented government-sponsored enterprises, broker-dealers, private equity investors, hedge funds, credit unions, technology companies, state governmental entities, and financial trade associations.   “We are pleased to welcome such a dynamic team to the firm,” says Dechert

A large group of finance and corporate attorneys from Nixon Peabody has joined Pillsbury’s New York office. Led by Mats Carlston, previously head of global finance at Nixon Peabody, who will now head Pillsbury’s leveraged finance team, the group enhances Pillsbury’s capabilities in the areas of leveraged finance, corporate trust, distressed investment, private equity and public finance. “Pillsbury has long been recognized as a world leader in the financial services industry,” says Pillsbury firm chair Jim Rishwain (pictured). “The addition of this significant team allows Pillsbury to round out and deepen our full range of offerings in the finance, private

Arthur J. Higgins, former chairman of the board of management of Bayer HealthCare, has joined The Blackstone Group’s dedicated healthcare group, Blackstone Healthcare Partners.  Higgins will join healthcare veterans Lodewijk de Vink and Doug Rogers in providing industry knowledge and expertise to private equity transactions. Blackstone Healthcare Partners is an integral part of the firm’s global effort in sourcing, analysing and overseeing investments in pharmaceuticals and medical products. Blackstone Healthcare Group’s investments include Nycomed, Gerresheimer, Stiefel Laboratories, and Catalent. Tony James, president and chief operating officer of Blackstone, says “With the addition of Arthur Higgins we have further strengthened Blackstone

Jean-Marc Rivet-Fusil has been appointed head of the fund of funds team at BNP Paribas Private Equity. He is assisted by Stéphanie Egoian who has been promoted to chief investment officer.  Together, they will form the investment committee. Rivet-Fusil will be in charge of defining and implementing the fund of funds strategy. Working closely with the relevant teams within BNP Paribas Investment Partners, he will define and support the distribution of an offering suited to the needs of the various client segments. He joined the team in 2007 as chief investment officer for the fund of funds business. He previously

The Chicago Corporation, an independent investment banking firm focused on serving middle-market companies, has appointed John A. "Jack” Wing as chairman emeritus. Wing served as chief executive officer and chairman of the board for The Chicago Corporation from 1981 until 1997 when the original company was sold to ABN Amro. Several former members of The Chicago Corporation, along with a team of investment bankers and executives from a variety of industries, re-established The Chicago Corporation earlier this year to provide middle-market companies with a range of financial and corporate advisory services including mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity capital raising,

A group of investment banking veterans has launched Intrepid Investment Bankers, an advisory firm headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The Intrepid team brings over 100 years of mergers and acquisitions advisory experience from their prior roles as principals at Barrington Associates, a firm they built into a national middle market M&A adviser before its acquisition by Wells Fargo in 2006. Intrepid’s senior professionals include long-time Barrington Associates veterans Jim Freedman, Mike Rosenberg and Ed Bagdasarian. Joining as partners are Gary Rabishaw, Adam Abramowitz and Jeremiah Mann, each of whom worked for over a decade at Barrington Associates. Intrepid’s services will

Future Capital Partners, the GBP6bn alternative investment boutique, has hired Tim West as its deputy chief executive.  West joins from Babcock and Brown where he was head of the London office and chief operating officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Prior to Babcock & Brown, West was European chief operating officer for iShares, the exchange-traded funds business of Barclays Global Investors. Before BGI, he held senior roles in investment banking and wealth management in the UK and Switzerland. West will work closely alongside chief executive Tim Levy and Future Capital’s senior team to manage and further develop its

TA Associates, a growth private equity firm, has hired two staff members in its Boston office. Elizabeth de Saint-Aignan (pictured) has joined the firm as a senior vice president in the technology group, and Pamela Bliss Harris has joined TA as vice president – investor relations.   Saint-Aignan focuses on investments in technology-based growth companies. Prior to joining TA, she served as a vice president at Nautic Partners, originating investment opportunities and overseeing portfolio companies on behalf of the firm’s middle-market buyout funds. She was previously a consultant at Bain, an associate at Summit Partners and a financial analyst at

Alexandra Dupont has joined BNP Paribas Private Equity as investment director responsible for the origination, realisation and follow-up of growth and transmission deals.  In addition, Nicolas Schwindenhammer (pictured) has been promoted to investment director.   Dupont was previously an investment manager at Cognetas and, before that, 21 Centrale Partners. She will work on the roll-out of BNP Paribas Private Equity’s growth strategy in the small-cap segment, in France and Benelux.    Schwindenhammer spent the past two years as an account manager within BNP Paribas Private Equity’s direct investment team. He was previously with Deloitte Finance’s transaction service department.