About Your Speakers
Raymond Abbott is Head of Private Equity for Alliance Trust and the Managing Director of Alliance Trust’s private equity division, Alliance Trust Equity Partners Ltd. After building up a portfolio of venture investments with British Linen Bank in 1999 he then founded Albany Venture Managers in 2000 and raised a fund in 2002 focused on Healthcare and IT. Alliance Trust acquired Albany Ventures in 2006 in order to add private equity experience and Raymond is now implementing a long term private equity investment program for the Trust.
Jonas joined LGT Capital Partners in 2001 and is based in the Pfäffikon office, near Zürich. He currently serves on the advisory boards of a number of buyout and venture partnerships in Europe.
Hannes Ambacher has nineteen years professional experience, nine of which are in private equity direct investments and investment management. His current focus is in on private equity investments in Central and Eastern Europe. Prior to joining Bank Gutmann, Hannes co-founded Gamma Capital Partners (Vienna), a technology investments group, where he originated and executed direct investments.
As Head of Private Equity, Frank Amberg is responsible for the Private Equity and Infrastructure investments of Munich Re Group. Prior to joining MEAG, Mr. Amberg spent eight years in the execution of direct investments in Venture Capital, Buyout and mezzanine financings and worked several years in Private Equity Fundraising. Previously, he was responsible for M&A with a Germany based industrial company.
Prior to joining LGT CP in 2005, Mr. Aubert was a Principal at Index Ventures, a pan-European venture capital firm, which he joined in 1999. At Index Mr. Aubert focused on investment opportunities in the communications, semiconductor and embedded software sectors.
David joined Celerant Consulting in 2008 as the Head of Private Equity, Mergers and Acquisitions. He has worked in operational line management in industry in a number of roles. Previously, David was a Director at PWC, and a Partner at Grant Thornton, where he set up and ran a national operational due diligence, post-deal services and operational restructuring team.
Before joining KKR, Ludo was the Director of European Public Affairs at Coca-Cola Company Europe Group. Prior to taking this role he was Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications for the Europe Group of Coca-Cola Enterprises, the largest bottler in the Coca-Cola system.
John Barber was previously a managing director at Helix Associates. Before joining Helix in 1997, John co-founded Yucatan Foods in Santa Monica, California. He previously worked at WSGP Partners, and at Morgan Stanley. He is a member of the Investor Relations Committee of the EVCA.
Beat Buehlman is a partner at Horizon21. Previous to this he was Founding Partner and Chairman at Tendo Corporate Finance AG, Zürich, where he established a corporate finance advisory boutique in the fields of Private Equity and M&A for SME in Switzerland, Germany and US.
Jerome Bouix joined CapMan in 2000. He is responsible for CapMan's Investor Services, which includes fundraising, fund administration, investor relations, communications and product development. Jerome is also a member of the Buyout team. Jerome is Member of the Board in European Venture Capital and Private Equity Association.
Formerly a Partner with Coopers & Lybrand, Michael is responsible for RBC cees’ presence in Johannesburg and Cape Town. He has developed a large portfolio of senior clients in the banking, private equity and hedge fund industry and is a regular presenter at conferences, representing RBC cees on both sides of the Atlantic.
Caroline Chabrerie is a partner in Proskauer’s Private Equity practice in Paris.
Caroline works very closely with Daniel Schmidt, partner responsible of the Paris Private Equity practice, and Guillaume Kellner, partner responsible of the Paris Corporate department.
Education
Caroline is a graduate of the University of Paris II (Panthéon – Assas), where she obtained a Master in Corporate and Tax Law and a “DEA” postgraduate degree (PhD) in Commercial Law in 1995 and a “DESS” postgraduate degree (PhD) in Banking and Finance Law in 1997.
She is also a graduate from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, (Sciences-Po), where she specialized in Economics and Finance in 1998.
Caroline has been a member of the Paris Bar since 1999. She is a native French speaker and fluent in English.
Key areas of expertise
Caroline specializes in corporate private equity deals and capital investment, focusing on venture capital and capital development transactions, secondary investment funds operations but also on stock exchange law.
She advises mainly on behalf of investment funds engaged in fund raising operations, sale of equity interests, shareholdings or portfolios, negotiation of investment terms with target companies and operations on the share capital of the target companies. She advises investors or historic shareholders on operations of external growth, industrial exit or flotation of target companies on the stock exchange financial markets. She has, notably, advised several listed companies and shareholder investment funds during introductions onto Alternext and Eurolist of NYSE-Euronext.
She also handles executive profit-sharing plans or exits undertaken by executives, founder shareholders or managers of the management companies or investment funds. She is part of the French Private Equity industry and is close to the main actors of such industry (Private Equity houses, investment funds, management companies, etc.).
Tom is a co-founder and managing partner of Capvent AG and Capvent India Advisors Private Ltd as well as a member of the firm’s investment committee. He has more than 16 years of direct and fund investment experience with growth companies in the US, private equity transactions in Europe and fund investments in Asia. Tom helped to develop the firm’s investment and due diligence process and has advised on all fund investment opportunities
Ian joined Stock Spirits Group in December 2007. He has worked in the industry since 1996, when he joined United Distillers & Vintners (a subsidiary of Diageo PLC) as Packaging Director, Global Operations and Operations Director, Packaging, UK Operations. He was most recently CEO of Inter Link Foods Ltd.
Before taking part in the launch of OFI AM's Private Equity fund of funds unit, he launched the OFI Group's direct Private Equity business in the LBO segment in 2000 and developed multi-management expertise through the OFI Private Equity subsidiary, where he was Managing Director.
Within 1998 and 2002 held several key positions in investment banking in Dresdner Kleinwort Benson/Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein
In 2002, Andrey was invited by MDM Bank to create and head International Capital Markets division. Within 4 years MDM took the leading position in arranging international debt placements for Russian mid-caps.
In April 2006, Andrey joined Alfa-Bank (the largest privately owned bank in Russia) as the Head of IB & Merchant Banking Origination.
In the second part of 2006 in partnership with Alexei Panferov created NRG and attracted 177 million USD in Volga River One.
Education: degree from Yaroslavl State University 1997 (economics), Vassar College, NY 1994-1995, Philips-University Marburg, Germany 1996-1997, INSEAD, France 2001
Wolf previously worked for Franz Haniel & Cie. where he headed the M&A department. Subsequently he held positions at Allianz Capital Partners as well as at CAM Private Equity. He was involved in numerous national and international private equity transactions and sat on the advisory board of Autobahn Tank & Rast Holding.
Philip A. Dougall is an independent adviser and investor in turnarounds and underperforming companies. For the prior five years, he was the CEO and Managing Director of Sun European Partners, LLP, a leading private equity firm focused on the turnaround/underperforming market. Mr Dougall spent twelve years, from 1991 to 2003, with Lehman Brothers where he was a Managing Director and Co-head of the firm's European telecommunications practice. Mr. Dougall served with Chemical Bank from 1986 to 1989 in Europe and the United States. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics, with First Class Honours, from the London School of Economics and Political Science and his Masters of Business Administration from the Stern School of Business, New York University.
Jean-Charles Douin joined the London team at Teachers’ in 2008 with international experience in private equity. Previously, he worked at CapVest Ltd., a mid-cap private equity fund based in London, and UBS Investment, where he focused on the consumer and retail sector
Reitze Douma serves APG as Fund Manager Private Equity and joined APG in 2007. At APG, Reitze is responsible for all Private Equity investments. He is also involved in developing new investment strategies a.o. music publishing rights.
Prior to joining APG, Mr Douma served as a senior Investment Manager Private Equity and Absolute Return Strategies at PGGM for 4 years and prior to that he spent his time working in different positions as Manager Finance & Control Investments and adviser to the CIO at PGGM Investments. Mr. Douma was formerly a risk manager and auditor at NIBCapital, an auditor at Rabobank and Controller at Philips Electronics.
Reitze received a B.A. in economics and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Olivier has more than ten years of experience in the private equity industry advising clients on structuring and operations of private equity funds. He also has extensive experience practicing in both legal and judicial aspects of general Business Law.
Mr. van Eesteren is responsible for origination, due diligence, and monitoring of buyout and venture capital investments in Europe. He has 14 years of investment experience. Prior to joining WPM, he worked in investment banking, most recently as Vice President with ING Barings. Mr. van Eesteren was also previously with NationsBank and Bank of America in London. Mr. van Eesteren serves on several buyout and venture capital partnership advisory boards in Europe. Mr. van Eesteren received a MSc degree in Business Administration from Erasmus University in Rotterdam.
Geoffrey Geiger joined the University Superannuation Scheme in 2007 in charge of private equity co-investments. He focuses on evaluating co-investment opportunities and assists the private equity team with manager selection and due diligence.
William is an investment director in the private equity team, which he heads up, and is responsible for making investments in private equity funds globally. The private equity team manages more than €1.5bn in private equity commitments in over 60 fund investments. William is also a member of the advisory committees of a number of private equity funds, a director of the Private Equity Association and is regularly invited to speak at private equity conferences.
Since 1999 he has grown Golding Capital Partners to become one of Germany’s leading investment managers for private equity fund investments. Jeremy Golding looks back on a 20-year international career with leading multinational companies. Mr. Golding has lived and worked in Germany, US, France, UK and the Middle East, holding management positions with General Electric, GE International, GE Capital, and the Boston Consulting Group. He holds an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
Marleen Groen is principal founder and CEO of Greenpark, an independent global private equity secondaries investment group, currently advising funds of €1.3 billion. Marleen has extensive global private equity secondaries experience having spent the last thirteen years investing in this market.
Graeme Gunn is responsible for European private equity investment activity. He currently sits on a number of European private equity fund advisory boards and has responsibility for a portfolio of direct co-investments.
Gordon Hargraves has been actively investing private equity since 1993. He is a Partner with Rho Fund Investors ("RFI") and has overall responsibility for its activities. RFI is the division of Rho Capital Partners that commits to venture capital and other specialized private equity funds whose strategies afford unique advantages, such as domain expertise, operational expertise or focus on a particularly attractive sector.
Alternative Investment Partners Neil leads European primary fund investment and co-investment activities for Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners, the Private Equity Fund of Funds group within Morgan Stanley, and is a Portfolio Manager and member of the Investment Committee. He has 18 years of relevant industry experience. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley AIP, he was a Partner at McKinsey & Company in Europe, North America and Asia providing consulting services to corporate and private equity clients.
Erin Harrell joined 3i in February 2005 as Director, Investor Relations. 3i has since raised the largest mid-market buyout fund in Europe, and one of the pioneering infrastructure funds for India.
John A. Hess is a founder of Altius and has been Chief Executive Officer since the firm’s foundation, which now manages and advises on over $17 billion with offices in London and Richmond VA. John is recognized as a thought-leader in private equity and contributes regularly to industry panels and periodicals. He has been involved in the financial services sector for 33 years, focusing on private equity for 24.
Head of Investor Relations, Terra Firma and Investor Relations Director for Europe, Middle East and Australia. Prior to joining Terra Firma in 2004, Michael was Principal and Director at Atlantic Pacific Capital. He was previously Vice President, Private Equity Group at Morgan Stanley. Michael has an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford. Michael is married with two sons and a daughter.
Ben Hewetson, Director, Teachers’ Private Capital. Ben Hewetson joined Teachers’ Private Capital in 2008 with 15 years experience in private equity, mergers and acquisitions and banking. He is responsible for sourcing, negotiating and executing private equity investments across Europe.
A. Michael Hoffman co-founded Palamon Capital Partners in 1999 and is Chairman. He has extensive experience in private equity having established the London Office of Warburg Pincus in 1987.
Greg is a Partner who primarily specializes in the sourcing and execution of secondary investments. He actively participates in all fund investment decisions at Adams Street. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the Adams Street Partners Secondary Partnership Sub-Committee.
Matthew Hudson is a partner in the Corporate Department of Proskauer Rose LLP and head of the London Office. His practice focuses on private equity, corporate finance and M&A, including advising private equity houses on fund formation, carried interest structures, LBOs, MBOs and venture capital. In addition, he has represented management teams, as well as portfolio companies, throughout their financing and M&A activity.
Michael Joseph is a senior vice president of D.E. Shaw & Co. (U.K), Ltd. operating from the D.E. Shaw group’s London office and a director of D.E Shaw Direct Capital, L.L.C., which provides debt and equity capital to businesses across all industry sectors in a number of geographic regions. Prior to joining D.E Shaw group in 2007, Mr. Joseph worked at Lloyds TSB Bank plc in London, where he last served as managing director of structured finance.
Martin Källström is a Senior Portfolio Manager for Alternative Investments at AP1. In his role as co-responsible manager for Alternative Investments he has a specific focus to build and manage AP1´s Private Equity, Real Estate, Hedge Fund and opportunistic investment portfolios. Prior to AP1, Martin was Head of Investment Consulting at Aon in the Nordic countries and a member of the Global Investment Practice Committee.
Rob is a senior member of Pantheon’s European primary investment team, with a particular focus on portfolio management and client reporting. Rob has more than twenty-five years’ experience in the financial services industry. Before joining Pantheon in 1993, he was finance director of a mortgage and financial services company and prior to that he ran a money market fund. He received a BSc from Leicester University and qualified as a chartered accountant with Coopers & Lybrand.
Jesper Knutsson has 18 years of experience from private equity and investment banking, hereof 11 years internationally. Jesper joined Danske Private Equity as Investment Manager in 2006, where has been involved in the due diligence on several funds in Danske PEP III and Danske PEP IV, as well as being responsible for fundraising.
Prior to joining Oaktree in 2007, Mr. Krens was CFO and Financial Controller of GROHE, a leading provider of Water Technology solutions in Germany. Before that, he spent four years at Black & Decker Europe, most recently as a Vice-President in the Lean Six Sigma group. Prior experience includes work at Stanley Works Inc., GE Capital and GE Plastics.
Axel Kuehn is Head of Private Equity Funds Group Zurich at AIG INVESTMENTS. The Private Equity Funds Group is a global advisor for private equity fund investments. Axel Kuehn's current responsibilities include overseeing investments in European geographies out of Zurich, as well as sourcing, due diligence, monitoring and product marketing. He has been in private equity funds business for more than a decade and joined from Allianz Private Equity in 2005.
Mary Kuusisto is a partner in the Private Investment Funds Group of Proskauer Rose LLP in London. She has over fifteen years of experience in the private equity industry and has advised hundreds of GPs and LPs on fund formation and operational matters involving private investment funds globally, with particular experience in tax-related matters.
Peter joined the company in 1999 as Managing Director. From 1995 to 1999, he was at A.T. Kearney Management Consultants in Germany, focusing on corporate restructuring and new business strategies. Prior, he worked in strategic planning, sales and marketing at Robert Bosch, Stuttgart. Peter started his professional career in the Data and Information Technology Division of Siemens in Germany and in the US.
Martin Langer is Head of Private Equity Fund Investments at UniCredit. He has been in private equity funds business for more than a decade. Before building up the fund investment programm he worked in Leveraged Finance. He holds an MBA from IESE, Spain.
Elly leads Pantheon’s global secondary investment funds and is a member of the firm’s Investment Management Committee and European Investment Committee. He joined Pantheon in 2001. Prior to joining Pantheon, Elly was an investment manager focusing on structuring and execution of direct investments at Actis Capital, an emerging markets private equity fund.
Chairman of Mercapital, firm which he joined in 1991. He previously worked as Investment Director at the Compagnie de Suez in Paris and before he held a position as Senior Consultant at the Information and Management Consultancy Division of Arthur Andersen & Co. in Madrid. Javier Loizaga has held relevant positions in EVCA (European Venture Capital Association) becoming Chairman in 2006-2007 as well as in the Spanish Association of Venture Capital (ASCRI in its Spanish acronym) being appointed President in 1995.
Adrian is an Investment Director of Indigo, focusing upon investments in the UK, Germany, CEE and the Netherlands. Prior to joining Indigo in 1999, Adrian was a member of the mezzanine capital team of Kleinwort Benson, which he joined in 1997. Before that, he worked in the acquisition finance team at NatWest Markets, the investment banking arm of NatWest.
Ross Marshall joined Dunedin in 1994 after ten years with 3i. He has 25 years private equity experience, including leading the negotiations for the MBO of Dunedin in 1996. He chairs Dunedin's investment committee and heads Dunedin’s investor relations activities. He raised the £250m Dunedin Buyout Fund II in 2006.
Jonny Maxwell is Global Head of Private Equity Fund of Funds at Allianz Private Equity Partners. Jonny has overall responsibility for Allianz’s indirect private equity activities, operating out of locations in Munich, New York and Singapore. Allianz, one of the world's largest insurance companies manages in excess of Euro 6.3 billion of private equity fund assets.
Mark McDonald is Principal of Pomona Capital’s London office and joined the firm in 2004. He focuses on the origination and execution of private equity secondary transactions as well as primary fund investments in Europe. Prior to Pomona, Mark spent four years with Barclays Capital in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region where he focused on M&A, leverage finance and private equity. He also spent three years with VCI, an investment firm backed by 3i, based in Milan and London.
Ryan T. McGovern joined Nomura in February 2005 to focus on the origination, execution and monitoring of mezzanine and other subordinated debt investments as one of the founding members of the Nomura-sponsored European mezzanine fund. As an Investment Director at Nomura Mezzanine, Ryan has been involved in making numerous second lien, mezzanine and PIK investments in companies across Europe and for monitoring those investments for the fund.
Peter McKellar, Partner & Chief Investment Officer, SL Capital Partners LLP started his career in investment banking at JP Morgan and worked in corporate finance before moving into industry in 1995 as corporate development director and then group finance director of Clydeport plc, a London Stock Exchange listed company and a former Montagu Private Equity buyout. Peter joined Standard Life Investments’ private equity team in the autumn of 1999, as Investment Director, and was promoted to Chief Investment Officer in December 2006.
Stewart is an Associate Director for RBC Corporate Employee & Executive Services ('RBC cees'). Based in Guernsey, Stewart advises on a portfolio of private equity and property fund structures and is also part of the business development team.
Henry Owainati has sixteen years professional experience in investments management in the United States, Western Europe and Emerging Markets. His focus is on alternative asset classes. Since 2004 he has covered private equity investments in Central and Eastern Europe. Prior to joining Bank Gutmann, Henry was with the private banking unit of Bank Austria Creditanstalt Group (Vienna) and with Spectrum Capital Partners (New York) in various investment management positions.
Christina A. Pamberg joined Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) as a Director in 2005 and focuses on investor relations and capital raising activities for Europe. Prior to joining KKR, Ms. Pamberg was with HarbourVest Partners (U.K.) Ltd. In her five years at HarbourVest, Ms. Pamberg was involved in various aspects of fund-of-funds investing covering primary, secondary and direct co-investments, most recently serving as a Vice President in HarbourVest’s secondary group.
James Pitt is a Managing Director of Lexington Partners and head of European private equity co-investments. He is based in London. He joined Lexington in 2006 from AXA Private Equity where he was head of the firm’s London office. At AXA he was responsible for a range of private equity activities within the firm’s private equity programme.
Rod Richards, Managing Partner, Graphite Capital. Graphite is both a direct investor in mid-market UK buy-outs and manages an investment trust listed on the London Stock Exchange investing in funds managed by third parties. Rod joined Graphite in 1986 and has been Managing Partner for the last ten years, leading the Management Buy-Out of Graphite from F&C in 2001.
Pål Ristvedt is based in Lexington Partners’ London office where he is responsible for Lexington’s secondary activities outside the United States and leading a team focused on the sourcing, valuation and negotiation of secondary purchases of non-US buyout, venture and mezzanine private equity partnerships.
Ms. Ryan joined AIG Investments in 2006. In addition to heading the London private equity funds group, Ms. Ryan is responsible for evaluating and meeting with private equity fund managers, making investment recommendations and monitoring the performance of the private equity fund portfolio. Prior to joining AIG Investments, she was Head of Private Equity at Insight Investment (the asset manager of the Halifax Bank of Scotland group (HBOS)), where she joined in 2001.
Andrew joined Campbell Lutyens in 1990 and became the Managing Partner in 2003. He also leads the firm’s financial advisory activities which focus on secondary transactions and fund restructurings. Previously he was responsible for developing the firm’s activities in fund placement.
Before forming Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity Select in 2002, Mr. Seligman spent 25 years at SG Warburg and its successor firms, where he had formed the sponsor coverage group, which became a leading adviser to European private equity firms. Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity Select manages fund-of-funds targeting the Western European lower mid-market buy-out segment.
Peter joined Celerant in 2008 as a Director of Celerant’s Private Equity and M&A practice. He has previously worked in consulting, industry and Private Equity, where he has held CEO positions with a number of PE backed companies, overseeing the doubling of revenue and profitability.
Charles Soulignac, Managing Partner and Founder of Fondinvest Capital, started in 1993 the fund-of-funds business (primary and secondary). He has been a member of the EVCA board of directors and investor relations committee.
Hans van Swaay has been more than twenty years in private equity as Head of Private Equity at Pictet & Cie, as Managing Director of UBS Capital, as Managing Director of Merifin and as partner of Lowe Finance. He has made direct investments in Switzerland, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and in the Netherlands. He sat on numerous boards and ran companies as CEO when necessary.
Dr. Matthias Unser, Managing Director with responsibility for SOPEP’s mezzanine and distressed debt fund investments, has more than 8 years of experience in mezzanine and private equity. Prior to VCM he was a Senior Consultant in the Corporate Finance Practice of Pricewaterhouse-Coopers.
Thomas Walker is a Senior Member of CCMP Capital Advisors (UK), LLP, our London affiliate, and is a member of the Investment Committee. Prior to joining CCMP in 2002, Mr. Walker was Managing Director and Head of Financial Sponsor Coverage for JPMorgan in London. Previously, Mr. Walker worked in the New York Investment Banking divisions of JPMorgan, Credit Suisse First Boston and Drexel, Burnham, Lambert. His investment banking experience covers a range of products, including mergers and acquisitions, equity capital markets, high yield debt and leveraged lending. Mr. Walker holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He serves on the board of directors of Grupo Corporativo ONO and Nowaco Central Europe.
Michael Wand is a Managing Director focused on European technology opportunities in the software sector. Mr. Wand joined Carlyle in 2001 and his investment interests include enterprise and infrastructure software, wireless technology and IT security. He is based in London. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Wand worked for approximately 10 years in investment banking, the last seven years in the technology sector. As a Managing Director, he was responsible for the European software and internet research team at Deutsche Bank in London. Mr. Wand is currently a member of the Board of Directors of SmartTrust AB, UC4 GmbH and FRS Global. His previous investments include Personal & Informatik AG and Apama Inc (now part of Progress Software).
David Wilmot is Joint Head of Mezzanine and Private Equity at Babson Capital Europe which he joined in November 2000 from Société Générale (“SG”) where he was Head of the UK Leveraged Finance team. David has extensive experience in European leveraged debt origination, execution and portfolio management. He is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers and holds a BSc (Hons) in Banking and Finance from Loughborough University and an MBA from City University Business School. He is a member of the Babson Capital Europe and the Mezzanine Credit Committees.
Annette Wilson is Investor Relations Director of Palamon Capital Partners. She joined Palamon in 1999 as the founding Chief Financial Officer and took on the investor relations role solely in 2005.
Nottingham University Business SchoolMike Wright is Professor of Financial Studies at Nottingham University Business School and Director of the Centre for Management Buyout Research, which he founded in 1986. He is a member of the BVCA Research Advisory Board.
Lorenzo joined Vision Capital as a Partner in 2008. Previously he was a Director at Change Capital Partners focusing on mid-market buyouts in the consumer and retail goods sector. Prior to Change Capital Lorenzo worked at Salomon Brothers, Nomura and TD Capital.
Peter Wilson joined the Firm’s London-based subsidiary in 1996 and focuses principally on secondary investments in Europe and European venture partnerships. He serves on the advisory committees for partnerships managed by Atlantic Bridge, Baring Vostok Capital Partners, Index Venture Management, Indigo Capital, Nordic Capital, Paragon Partners, and Pond Venture Partners. Prior to joining the Firm, he spent three years working for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, where he originated and managed two regional venture capital funds in Russia and worked on several other debt and equity transactions in the former Soviet Union. Peter also spent two years at The Monitor Company, a strategy consulting firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He received a BA (with honors) from McGill University in 1985 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1990. Peter speaks German and French.
Guy Semmens joined Argos Soditic in 1996 and heads the Swiss operations based in Geneva. Investments which he has led include cable machinery business Maillefer, and chocolate wafer brand Kagi in Switzerland, and flame retardant business Kermel, and fine chemicals group Axyntis in France. In addition to his primary investment role, he is also responsible for investor relations and fund raising for the Argos Soditic Group.
Before joining Argos Soditic, Guy Semmens was part of the management buy-out group at Clifford Chance, the international law firm. He was also a member the EVCA working committee that formulated the "Reporting and Valuation Guidelines" for private equity firms.
Guy Semmens holds a degree in law from Durham University and is a qualified solicitor in the U.K.
Argos Soditic
2008 Swiss Private Equity House of the Year (Acq Magazine)
2009 Western European Private Equity House of the Year (Acq Magazine)
Partner at Coller Capital since 1999. Daniel is a member of the investment committee and is responsible for deal sourcing and closing secondary transactions, with specific responsibilities for Canada, France and Asia.
Previously Director, Private Equity, for Caisse de Dépot et Placement du Québec; Senior Manager, Treasury, National Bank of Canada (London); International Credit Manager, National Bank of Canada (Montreal and Hong Kong); Auditor, Coopers & Lybrand.
Daniel holds a BAA and an MBA from École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC - Montreal), and is a Canadian Chartered Accountant.
Neil MacDougall heads up a team of 50 staff based in offices in London, Munich, Paris and Chicago. He joined Silverfleet Capital in 1989 and was appointed Managing Partner in 2004. Neil is a director of Sterigenics International Inc. Before joining Silverfleet Capital, Neil was a Strategic Management Consultant at Bain & Co. He read Natural Sciences and Computer Science at Cambridge. Neil chairs in Silverfleet Capital’s Investment Committee.
Scott Collins is a Managing Director and leads Summit Partner’s London Office. Mr. Collins joined Summit Partners in 1996 and worked in the Boston office before moving to the United Kingdom to establish the London office in 2001. He serves on the firm’s Executive and Operating Committees.
Before joining Summit Partners, Mr. Collins worked at McKinsey & Company, where he conducted strategic business consulting assignments for corporate clients. He also has served in a variety of government positions, including at the White House, U.S. Department of Justice, and U.S. Department of Transportation.
Pavel Ezekiev is a Managing Partner and co-founder of New Europe Venture Equity LP (NEVEQ), a venture capital firm investing in technology companies with global clients and R&D assets in southeast Europe. He ran Deutsche Bank in Bulgaria after working as M&A investment banker with Deutsche Bank London and as a financial analyst with Microsoft in Redmond, WA. Ezekiev was the Executive Director of InvestBulgaria Agency, a government authority responsible for state co-funding of greenfield projects. He has a degree from Northeastern University in Boston. Currently he is also Chairman of the Board of the largest regional business process outsourcing firm, Sofica Group, and serves as a Trustee of the Board of the American University in Bulgaria.
Nazo Moosa is a Director focused on European media, technology and business services opportunities. She is based in London.
Prior to joining Carlyle, Ms. Moosa evaluated investment opportunities in the consumer and leisure sectors at JH Capital. Ms. Moosa received her M.B.A. from the Columbia Business School and her Bachelors Degree with honors from UCLA. Her investments include Transics (Brussels: TRAN.BR), Personal & Informatik (XETRA: PUI.DE), and Bigmouthmedia.
Erik Kaas is a Partner, co-head of the investment solutions department, a member of the business development committee and responsible for strategic client relationship development. The investment solutions team is globally responsible for investment origination, business development and client relationship management. Erik Kaas was pivotal in building up the investment solutions team to its global reach and expanding Partners Group’s client base in Northern Europe. He has previously been a member of the firm's investment committee for listed private equity investments. Prior to joining Partners Group, he worked for eight years at Goldman Sachs & Co. He spent his first five years at Goldman Sachs in London, New York and Tokyo before relocating to Zurich, where he was responsible for the institutional products business in Switzerland and Austria. He started his career in finance in the swaps and OTC bond options group at Liberty Eurobrokers in London. He holds a dual degree in business administration from the European Partnership of Business Schools in London and Reutlingen.
Gunther has been working for Augur Capital since 2003 and is very involved in various boards and committees, including: Member of the supervisory board WÜBA Versicherungs-AG (BAFIN approved), Chairman of the supervisory board of Schnigge Wertpapierhandelsbank AG (BAFIN approved), Chairman of the supervisory board of Veritas Investment Trust GmbH (BAFIN approved), Member of the supervisory board DARAG Deutsche Versicherungs-AG (BAFIN approved), Member of the board of Augur Financial Opportunity SICAV, Luxembourg (CSSF approved).
Simon Havers leads Baird Capital Partners Europe, the UK-based operation of Baird Private Equity. Simon rejoined Baird Capital Partners Europe in 2002, having previously worked with the company from 1994 to 1998. In between, he spent four years at ABN AMRO Capital. Earlier in his career, Simon was involved in the planning and rollout of BBC World Service Television, and also worked as a strategy consultant. He holds an MBA, is a Chartered Management Accountant, and holds a first class honours degree in engineering and management. Simon is Chairman of the BVCA.
Mr. Munteanu has experience in buyouts, expansions, restructurings and realizations in different Eastern European countries, in particular in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Moldova. He works in PE industry in CEE region since 1997.
Mr. Munteanu worked for the World Bank in Washington, D.C., where he was a financial consultant in Private Sector Finance and Infrastructure for the Middle East, North Africa and Iran Department. Thereafter, he was named deputy executive director of the Strategic Study Center, a joint World Bank-UNDP project in the Republic of Moldova.
Mr. Munteanu holds a Master`s Degree in Economic Policy Management from Columbia University, New York (USA) and a Master’s Degree in Theoretical Physics from Moscow University. Knight of Légion d’honneur of France. In December 2003, Mr. Munteanu joined the Board of Directors of the Business Advisory Council (BAC) for South Eastern Europe.
Gillian joined British Airways Pension Investment Management Ltd in March 2008. She has 22 years’ experience in private equity fund investing, having been responsible for managing both fund of funds and pension fund portfolios.