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People: February 2003

Martin Currie hires Paul Murray, Atlas Venture promotes four and CapMan expands its buy-out team in Sweden and Denmark…

Europe & Israel

Departures

• Struggling private equity firm Swiss Life Private Equity Partners has suffered another blow. Dominik Meyer and Michael Miller, both partners, left the firm on 6 February. In a statement Swiss Life said that ‘their departure is in relation to differing views on the management of the business'.

Appointments

• Edinburgh-based fund manager Martin Currie has announced the appointment of Paul Murray, previously a founding partner of Deutsche Bank Capital Partners, as managing director of its private equity team. Before that, Murray spent 11 years at 3i.
  
  
• Mezzanine Management is to strengthen its investment team with the appointment of Rolf Brien. Brien was previously a director at Pricoa Capital, where he was principally involved in developing and implementing the company's investment strategy in Germany.
  
  
• UK-based mid-market private equity firm Sovereign Capital has announced the appointment of two new investment managers, Mike Foley and Jim Kottler. Mike Foley was formerly with Ernst & Young M&A, where he focused on healthcare transactions, advising private equity providers on investments and exits. Jim Kottler joins from Royal Bank Private Equity.
  
  
• Close Brothers Growth Capital, a debt and equity provider focusing on the mid-market, has strengthened its team with the appointment of mezzanine expert Barrie Moore as a director. Moore joins from ABN AMRO, where he was a managing director and where he founded the firm's mezzanine financing capability.
  
  
• Deutsche Venture Capital has announced the appointment of ex-director of Aventis Venture Activities Dr Thomas Taapken as a partner and director of Breslin Biotech Dr David Karabelnik as a consultant.
  
  
• Swiss asset manager Unigestion has announced its appointment of Rolf Winzeler as marketing director of the private equity team. Winzeler was a principal of Atlantic-Pacific Capital from 1998 to 2002, working on the placement of private equity and hedge funds.
  
  
• CapMan has announced the expansion of its buy-out team in both Sweden and Denmark. Four new appointments have been made, including Peter Langkjaer, chairman of Danish consulting company Lisberg Management, as senior adviser. The three investment professionals to join CapMan from 1 March 2003 will be Göran Barsby as investment director and Mats Gullbrandsson and Rikard Albihn as investment managers.
  
  
• Reed Elsevier Ventures, the London-based venture capital arm of publisher and information provider Reed Elsevier Group, has opened a new office in California and has hired Rakesh Sood as a new partner in the office. Sood most recently served as a general partner with the venture capital firm Sprout Group.
  
  
• Vertex Management Israel, a Savyon, Israel-based venture capital firm, has announced the appointment of Yair Sakov as venture partner. He will be responsible for identifying and evaluating new investment opportunities and assisting Vertex portfolio companies. The firm has also appointed Irit Rapaport as venture partner. She previously worked as chairman, CEO and founder of Pelican Security, an information security technology company.
  
  
• London-based venture capital firm, Atlas Venture, has announced the promotions of four of its employees. Alexander Bruehl, Graham O'Keeffe and Timothy Wilson have been made senior principals, while Paul Pospisil was named principal.

North America

Departures

• Merrill Lynch's private equity placement group has suffered a blow with the departure of two of its senior staff who are reportedly joining Lazard Freres in a bid to form a new placement business. A spokesperson for Merrill Lynch confirmed the departure of Ben Sullivan and William Riddle. Sullivan was head of project management and Riddle was head of sales.

Appointments

• Morgenthaler Partners, Morgenthaler's middle-market buy-out firm, has named Alfred Festa as operating partner. Festa previously served as president and CEO of ICG Commerce and will be responsible for deal sourcing, due diligence, transaction analyses and portfolio management in his new role with the Cleveland-based firm.
  
  
• Nina Ebert, former CFO and managing director at Saints Ventures, has joined Labrador Ventures, a Palo Alto-based venture capital firm, as chief financial officer. Ebert has previously worked at Goldman Sachs, Montgomery Securities, Nice Ventures and People PC.
  
  
• Chicago-based Cambridge Capital Partners has named Anthony Davis as a partner. Prior to joining Cambridge, Davis worked at One Equity Partners where he was responsible for sourcing, evaluating, executing and monitoring private equity investments.
  
  
• The Carlyle Group has added Daniel Akerson to its team. Akerson joins the firm as managing director and will focus on buy-out and venture opportunities in North America, predominantly in the technology sector.
  
  
• Edison Venture Fund, a New Jersey-based venture capital firm, has announced the promotion of Chris Sugden to principal. He will assume responsibility for generating and evaluating investment opportunities in New Jersey and New York City.
  
  
• Accel-KKR, a Californian private equity firm, has named Ben Bisconti as managing director and Andy Hammann as principal. Bisconti formerly served as managing director of Credit Suisse First Boston Technology Group while Hammann served as vice president of JP Morgan H&Q.
  
  
• James Counihan has been promoted from senior associate to principal at Massachusetts-based venture firm Prism Venture Partners. Counihan joined the firm as an associate in November 200 and was promoted to senior associate in November of the following year.
  
  
• German venture capital firm, Copan, has appointed Phil Wickham as managing director for its San Jose, California office. His most recent position was that of managing director of the Silicon Valley office of Profile Ventures.

Asia

Appointments

• Global private equity firm, The Carlyle Group, has re-hired Gabriel Li in its Hong Kong office. Li previously worked with Carlyle Asia Venture Partners but left to co-manage a Robertson Stephens fund investing in public and private technology companies. As head of the Asian investment team at Carlyle, he will focus on deals in semiconductor design and manufacturing, display and wireless devices.
  
  
• San Francisco-based WI Harper Group has announced the promotion of David Zhang from associate to vice president. Zhang has relocated to the firm's Beijing investment office. He joined WI Harper in February 2001.