Market Insight – September 2024

What’s the work / life balance in Private Capital investing like?

A question we’re asked daily by candidates considering a move to private capital investing roles, “tell me about the work/life balance and culture” of the firm we’re representing. Admittedly fair and important questions. However, perhaps stop and think what you are really trying to ask. Often, it’s the working hours people are trying to understand. What does a “normal” day look like? A fair question given a lot of the candidates are coming out of the investment banking environment which is all- encompassing from an hours perspective. When moving to a private capital investing environment, yes, the hours may appear to be an improvement, you’re not constantly pitching for work or running intensive deal processes on behalf of demanding clients (often the funds that one day you may hope to join). It is often more manageable to sustain as a career, but to be a successful investor over the long term, it requires more than hours – it demands you accept ownership, accountability and demands a total shift in mindset.

It is important to recognise and understand that if you want to move into an investing role and build a long-term successful career, it is a position that comes with great responsibility. As a trusted custodian of others capital, you’re investing on their behalf – a responsibility that should never be taken lightly. Culture and how a team operates, develops and respects individuals, promotes equality and supports its team through the good and the bad is important and something you should absolutely question and understand. However, these points as opposed to a measurement of hours spent in the office, are arguably the most important things to be judging a prospective employer by.

Of course, there are some exceptions to this in that global investment firms do often involve more contact outside of regular Australian working hours due to time zone issues, but we encourage you to think long and hard about the role and responsibilities of an investor. Does that align with your life and your career ambitions? It’s certainly not for everyone and shouldn’t be entered into half-heartedly, for anyone’s sake – least  of all the investors who are trusting you with their capital.

Hiring talent for the Australian investment community is highly competitive, and even more so currently with the influx of new funds, asset classes and strategies. Whilst it’s important to pitch your culture and point of difference to prospective employees, employers should also be clear on their expectations. We have several clients who will be specific about their expectations and their culture during an interview process with the understanding that it might not be for everyone. Ultimately, this should assist a prospective employee to know what they’re committing to. When looking at the retention rates of some funds vs others, it’s clear that by being upfront about expectations they are doing the right thing on behalf of the team as well as their investors.

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“Movers & Shakers”

BANKING & MARKETS

Investment Banking & Advisory

• Brett Duell has joined Alvarez & Marsal as Managing Director, Transactions Advisory Group from PwC where he was a Partner.

• Richard Jones of Citi infrastructure, has joined Gresham Partners as a Managing Director.

• Alex Cartel previously Head of Banking, Capital Markets & Advisory with Citi, has joined Rothschild as Head of Advisory Australia.

• Alexander Berezner of JP Morgan New York, has been appointed as Managing Director for Flagstaff Partners.

• Nimesh Wijesooriya who was most recently Vice President, Group Strategy & Corporate Development with Aristocrat in the US, has joined Jarden as Director, General Industrials. Jen Fong has also joined the firm’s real estate team as an Analyst from Deutsche Bank.

• Federica Immanuel has joined JP Morgan from Flagstaff Partners where she was Vice President. Richard Lai has also joined the firm as an Investment Banking Associate from Luminis Partners.

• UBS sees the addition of Josh Snow in Perth as an Associate Director in the resources team from Rothschild & Co. Alexander Dalczynski, ex Jarden, has joined the firm in Sydney as an Investment Banking Associate.

• Jack Baldwin ex Linklaters London has joined Greenhill as a Senior Analyst.

• Abhishek Srivastava previously with Barings has joined Planum Partners as an Associate Director.

• Cameron Clifford prior with CEFC, has joined Nomura’s greentech, industrials & infrastructure team as an Investment Banking Associate.

• Terence Kwan, ex ICA Partners, has joined Macquarie Capital’s infrastructure & energy team as an Associate. Whilst Aran Anandakumar has joined the TMET team as an Investment Banking Analyst from Nomura.

• Hugh Kim, ex Record Point, has joined Morgan Stanley as an Associate.

• Alexander Robinson & Rashad Marmash have joined Azure Capital as Associates. Alexander was previously with ICA Partners & Rashad with MUFG.

• Lachlan Stott (ex Jarden) & Kaining Zhao (ex Macquarie) have joined Goldman Sachs as Associates in FIG & natural resources respectively. Emily Kevans (previously Jarden) & Janet Li (previously Houlihan Lokey) have also joined Goldman Sachs as Investment Banking Analysts.

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Corporate Banking / Debt Products / Risk Management

• Sam Chee has been appointed as CRO with Agricultural Bank of China from ERM where he was Partner, M&A, ESG & Sustainable Finance.

• Jeff Heazlewood who was with Commonwealth Bank prior, has joined OCBC as Executive Director, Corporate & Project Finance.

• Stuart Laidlaw who was Executive Director, FICC Sales & Structuring with Investec, has joined Rabobank as an Executive Director.

• Coral Lou, ex Citi Vice President, has joined Westpac as Director, Consumer & Industrials.

• Chris Nolan previously in Canada with RCM Capital as Director, has joined CEFC’s special situations team in Brisbane.

• Neena Vajani previously Executive Manager with Westpac has joined ING as Senior Vice President, Corporate Sector Lending. In Melbourne, Linda Blore has joined the bank as State Head Victoria, Corporate Sector Coverage from KPMG, where she was Partner, Debt Advisory.

• Ethan Smith, ex SMBC, has joined Export Finance Australia as Senior Manager, Project & Structured Finance.

• Vicky Wu has joined Credit Agricole as Associate, Corporate & Leveraged Finance from Challenger.

• Keith Lee previously with Credit Agricole, has joined Nuveen as Senior Associate, Debt Strategies, Real Estate.

• Oliver Shimmin has joined Lightsource bp as a Structured Finance Associate from MUFG’s project finance, renewable energy team.

• Adrian Ho, ex Credit Agricole has joined RBCCM as an Associate, Leveraged Finance.

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Global Markets (FICC & Equities) / Treasury

• Laura Fitzsimmons has been appointed as Head of Deutsche Bank’s Fixed Income & Currencies Macro Sales team. She joins from JP Morgan where she was most recently Head of Australia Rates Sales.

• Mark Davis who was most recently Head of Global Markets / Equities, Australia with Credit Suisse, has been appointed as Head of Australian & New Zealand Equities with Goldman Sachs.

• Johnny Lau most recently with Citi, will be joining RBCCM in November as Head of Electronic Trading.

• Citi has added to its teams Alana Martin from HSBC in Corporate FX Sales & Melanie Vandervord from MST Financial in Corporate Access & Investor Strategies.

• Chris Bryan of Macquarie, has been appointed as Head of Melbourne Equity Sales with Jarden.

• Michael Peters previously Head of Institutional Commodities, Australia, has joined Marex as Executive Director, Energy & Renewables.

• Michael Bailey has joined BNP Paribas as Director, DCM. He was most recently Head of DCM with Credit Suisse.

• Kiara Mitchinson has joined Barrenjoey in Perth as Partner & Co-Head of M&A. She was previously with William Blair in London. Whilst Lewis Karanicolas has joined in Sydney from BNP Paribas where he was Associate Director, DCM.

• Scott Stewart has joined Natixis CIB as Director, Equity Derivatives Sales from Perennial Partners.

• Amanda Lau, ex Mizuho, has joined Centuria Capital Group as a Senior Treasury Manager.

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ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS

Private Equity / Family Office / Venture Capital

• Matt McKenna, ex KPMG has joined RTG Capital Partners as a Partner, alongside Anne Duggan who also joined as a Partner earlier in the year.

• Misha Saul previously with Potentia Capital, has joined EVP as Head of Opportunities Fund.

• Sam Murray, Principal at Archer Capital, has joined BGH Capital in Melbourne as an EGM in their Operations Group.

• Guy Reypert previously of Leap Capital has been appointed as Managing Director, Investments with the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation.

• Ondrej Ruzicka previously Managing Director & Head of ANZ with L Catterton, has joined Crescent Capital Partners as Managing Partner, Consumer Investing. Joining his team is Giuseppe Valletta as an Investment Director also from L Catterton.  

• Danielle Soul previously of Jefferies as Senior Vice President & Head of Healthcare, has joined Friday Capital as an Investment Director.

• Garrick Kerr has rejoined Goldman Sachs in Sydney as Executive Director, Private Equity & Growth Equity Investing from Permira in London.

• Teodor Covalciuc, ex Stanton Road Partners, has joined Adamantem Capital as an Associate Director. George Longbottom & Isobel McCalman have also joined the team from Anchorage Capital Partners & Macquarie respectively.

• Brad Armstrong previously Manager, Corporate Development with IAG, has joined W23 as a Lead Investor.  

• Ed McManus, ex CEO of Deliveroo Australia & Singapore, has joined The Riverside Company as a Senior Operating Partner.

• Tom Luo has joined Immutable as a Digital Asset Lead from UBS where he was an Associate Director.

• Liverpool Partners has added Sarah Robson to the team as Manager, Responsible Investment & Impact. Sarah was previously with Deloitte.

• Alvin Fernandes who has prior experience with Pacific Partnerships, has joined Squadron Energy as a Senior Investment Manager.

• Lillian Croft, ex Woolworths Group & UBS, has joined Genesis Capital as Head of Partnerships & Acquisitions.

• Anthony Whyte previously with Affinity Equity Partners & UBS, has joined TPG as a Senior Associate.

• Cameron Forsyth has joined Anchorage Capital Partners as a Senior Investment Associate.

• Bernice Tan, ex Barrenjoey, has joined HMC Capital as a Senior Associate.

• Daniel Zhang previously with BGH Capital, has joined KKR as an Associate.

• Ethan Gill, ex UBS, has joined CVC Emerging Companies as an Investment Analyst.  

• Jenny Chen has joined EVP from JP Morgan where she was an Investment Banking Associate in the real estate team.

• Greg Green (ex EAC Partners) has joined Five V Capital team as part of their origination function. Monique Iannella (ex M3 Partners New York), Jemma Potezny (ex Liverpool Partners), Cameron Gibbons (ex Yorkway Private), Marco Vissers (previously with UBS) & Ryley Lucas (previously with Deutsche Bank) have all joined the investment team.

• Sara Neves has joined Allegro Funds as an Investment Associate. Sara has prior experience in London with MML Capital.

• Matthew Jolly has joined EQT Group as a Private Equity Associate from Jarden.

• Nalin Batra previously with McKinsey & Company has joined Pacific Equity Partners as an Associate.

• Snehaa Senthamilselvan, ex Luminis Partners, has joined Salesforce as Associate, Global Private Equity & Venture Capital.

• Glenn Cullinane has joined Decade Partners as an Investment Research Associate from Woozle Research in London.

• Jack Anderson has joined Aware Super as Senior Investment Analyst, Private Equity from Jefferies.

• Grace Hamilton, ex Morgan Stanley New York has joined Potentum Partners as a Client Development Manager.

• Audrey Wu, ex MA Financial Group has joined Anacacia Capital as a Senior Investment Analyst.

• Veronica Kopecny has joined Blackstone as an Investment Analyst from Macquarie Capital’s real estate team.

• Alexandra Freeman-Greene earlier with Goldman Sachs, has joined Tattarang as an Investment Analyst.

• Philipa Wong has joined Pemba Capital Partners as an Investment Analyst from Luminis Partners.

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Private Credit / Special Situations

• Cameron Simmonds who has earlier experience with Preqin & Euromoney Institutional Investor, has joined Jefferies Credit Partners as Vice President.

• Ronak Panchal has joined Epsilon Direct Lending as an Investment Associate from ANZ Bank where he was Manager, Group M&A.

• Tobias Robinson has joined Global Credit Investments (GCI) as an Investment Analyst from FTI Consulting.

• Dylan Mortimore has joined KKR as an Analyst in the private credit team, from Bank of America where he was an Investment Banking Analyst. William Halliday has also joined the firm as an Analyst from Deutsche Bank’s leveraged DCM team.

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Real Assets - Infrastructure / Renewables / Energy / Real Estate

• Berrick Wilson has been appointed as Co-Head of Real Estate Equity Australia & Head of Tactical Opportunities with Qualitas. Earlier he was Managing Director with KordaMentha.

• Phillip Kim who was previously with Macquarie as a Vice President in the infrastructure & energy team, has joined Palisade Investment Partners as a Senior Investment Manager.

• Kieren Carman, ex Macquarie real estate investment banking, has joined Assembly Funds Management as an Investment Manager.

• Jake Kellner has joined MORRISON as an Investment Manager. Jake has earlier experience with STAR Capital Partnership & Macquarie.

• Ashleigh Zhu has joined Amp Energy as Senior Associate, Investments from ATCO.

• Douglas Walden, ex QIC Data Analyst, has joined Riparian Capital Partners as an Investment Operations Manager.

• Ryan Dharma previously with Bank of America, has joined I Squared Capital’s infrastructure private equity team.

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FUNDS MANAGEMENT

Distribution & Advice

• Adam Kirk has been appointed as Head of Distribution with AltX from FIIG Securities.

• Jonathan Goll has joined Harbour Credit Partners as Head of Investor Solutions from Alpha Vista.

• Chris Comino has been appointed as Head of Investor Relations with Folklore Ventures from Perennial Partners.

• George Tselios, ex KPMG, has joined Morrison as an Executive, Investor Solutions.

• Alicia Cook previously of Ophir Asset Management, has joined Vantage Asset Management as an Investor Relations Manager.

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Investments

• Bernard Reilly formerly of Australian Retirement Trust, has been appointed as CEO of Perpetual.  

• Kris Webster & Michael Poulsen both ex Magellan Financial Group have set up a boutique global small and mid-cap equities manager, Canopy Investors, hiring across Jack McManus who was also most recently with Magellan.  

• Talieh Williams joins Cbus as Head of ESG Integration. She previously held roles with VFMC and UniSuper.

• Adam Roberts previously of Cerberus Capital Management, has joined Australian Ethical Investment as Head of Private Markets.

• Jefferies has added a number of prior Goldman Sachs Executives with Mario Argyrides as Head of Equities. Working with him Will Allott as Head of Equity Sales & Aaron Piercy in equity sales in Sydney, as well as Nicolas Thompson as Head of Melbourne Equities.

• Chris Wolak has been appointed as Head of Portfolio Management with Global X ETFs from UBS.

• Michael Vos who has earlier experience with Zurich as Regional CIO, APAC, has been appointed as Head of Investments APAC with Bupa.

• Justin Pascoe who was earlier AustralianSuper’s Head of Equities, has been appointed as Cbus’ Head of Portfolio Construction.

• Ben Price previously with PGIM as Head of Australia Wealth has joined Lazard Asset Management as an Investment Specialist.

• Matt Olsen joins Morningstar as Director of Manager Research, Australasia.  Prior he held roles with Insignia & Lonsec.

• John Barrasso, ex First Sentier, has joined Apostle Funds Management as Portfolio Manager, Credit.

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CORPORATE / GOVERNMENT / C-SUITE

• Scott Langford has been appointed as CEO of Housing Australia. Scott has prior experience as Group CEO of SGCH.

• Dave Woodall who was Chief Commercial Officer with ART, has been appointed as CEO of Insignia Financial commencing 1 November.  

• Michael Camerlengo has joined Housing Australia as Head of Origination from KPMG where he was Partner and Head of Government APAC.

• Nik Kemp who was Global Head of Real Assets with AustralianSuper, has joined Dexus as Executive General Manager, Growth Markets.

• Merran Edwards, ex Investa Property Group, has joined The GPT Group as CFO.  

• Sam Winter who was most recently with Only About Children as Executive Director, Growth & Development, has joined Estia Health as Chief Business Development Officer.

• Therese Kenny joins ESSSuper as CFO.  Prior she held CFO roles with MaxCap & LUCRF Super.

• Cameron Barnsley who was Executive Director with Morgan Stanley, has joined Temple & Webster as CFO.

• Christopher Smith previously of Greenhill & Co. has been appointed as COO with Marshall Investments.  

• Neil Louis has joined REA Group as General Manager, Corporate Development. Neil has earlier experience as CFO with GigaComm & TasmaNet.

• Jason Tan, ex CLSA Director, has joined Transgrid as a Corporate Finance Director.

• Suzannah Morrison previously Associate Portfolio Manager with Aware Super, has joined Iglu Student Accommodation as Head of Corporate Development.

• Michelle Hepworth has joined Wesfarmers as Manager, Business Development. Michelle was previously with Tattarang as an Investment Manager.

• Angie Choi, ex Australian Military Bank, has joined Aware Super as Manager, Asset Governance.

• Matthew Grossman has joined CDC Data Centres’ corporate development team from ICA Partners where he was an Investment Banking Analyst.

• Shreyas Pulapaka has joined Cleanaway’s M&A team as a Senior Analyst from Ampol.

• Olivia Burton has joined CRH as a Strategy & Corporate Development Executive from PwC’s deals team.

• Benjamin Emmanuel has joined Revolut as a Strategy & Operations Manager. He has prior experience with ICA Partners & KPMG.

We are keen to hear your feedback or should you require further information, please contact us on 02 9235 9400 or nfoster@jmes.com.au

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