Market Insight – June 2023

Musical Chairs – in PE Land?

A little premature perhaps, but you can never accuse us of not being front of foot here at JMES. Whilst closed deal volume has been down and transactions continue to get drawn out, the hiring market has been as buoyant as ever, perhaps even at its most active for experienced, quality PE professionals.

With many funds well-resourced, having raised funds in the last year or two and others - including a select group of domestic funds (PEP, Quadrant & Five V amongst them) - adopting a multi-investment strategy approach, hiring appetite has moved on at pace. Whilst the usual Senior Analyst/Associate hires have remained, there has also been a strong demand for experienced hires across Investment Manager/AD/VP/Principal/Investment Director/MD/Partner levels - no industry standard seems to exist regarding titles these days.  We have also seen more fund-to-fund trades in recent times than in the history of PE in the Australian market.  It’s kept us busy just trying to keep up!

In addition to the above we’ve seen international firms continue to build out - Australia and New Zealand continues to be seen as a key strategic, albeit competitive, investment landscape.  Additionally, in some high-profile cases we’ve seen firms having to completely rebuild where their teams have been largely gutted by high staff turnover. Then of course, there has been the continued emergence of the larger superannuation/sovereign wealth funds to add to the list of active hirers of PE talent.

So it has been, and continues to be, a busy time for us here at JMES not without its challenges of meeting client’s ever rising benchmark on hires (multiple interviews, case studies, psychometric tests etc) and the ever-increasing focus on diversity agendas (a puzzle we like to think that we have developed a bit of a talent for solving).

We are now armed with this experience and approaching a half time break and are more than happy to take time out and help if anyone, candidate or client, is seeking a personal market update or would like our assistance. We also wait with bated breath to see what the second half of 2023 will bring.

“Movers & Shakers”

BANKING & MARKETS

Investment Banking

• Deutsche Bank sees the appointment of Karla Wynne from Credit Suisse as Head of Consumer & Healthcare ANZ.

• Alex Brown (Director) and Tom Gibson (Director) from Credit Suisse are joining Macquarie Capital’s sponsor coverage team.

• Zac Haines of Goldman Sachs has been appointed as a Partner with Sayers Group.

• Adam Reid (Managing Director) and Clarence Fok (Vice President) from Credit Suisse are both joining Gresham and covering resources. Luke Fairley (ex EY) & Chris Best (ex Faraday Associates) have also joined Gresham as Investment Banking Associates.

• Anthony Habis, ex Bank of New York Mellon joins MA Financial as Head of Real Estate Partnerships.

• Paulo Machado Caccese prior with Bank of America, has joined Nomura as Executive Director, Investment Banking.

• Megan Strong, ex Bank of America, has joined UBS as an Associate Director, Investment Banking.

• Marc Ruckhaeberle joins Grant Samuel as an Associate Director from Goldman Sachs. Zachary George-Neich also joins the team from KPMG NZ as an Investment Banking Analyst.

• Manasvi Narula has joined Macquarie Capital as Vice President in the TMET team from Goldman Sachs in Auckland. Jeffrey Gu, ex Bank of America, has joined the principal finance team as an Analyst.

• Benjamin D’Souza has joined Jefferies’ leveraged finance team as an Investment Banking Analyst from Metric Credit Partners.

• Lisa Zhong joins RBCCM as Director, Power, Utilities & Infrastructure. She has prior experience with Rothschild. Daniel Jiang-Zhu from Jarden has also joined the firm as an Investment Banking Analyst in the same team.

• Ben Sloman has joined Azure Capital as Director from Gresham where he was an Executive Director.

• Kieren Carman, ex Goldman Sachs, is now with Macquarie Capital’s real estate team as an Investment Banking Associate.

• Finn Cole-Adams has joined 333 Capital as an Investment Banking Analyst from KPMG’s transaction services team.

• Jake Beattie joins Grant Samuel as an Investment Banking Analyst from Ernst & Young.

Corporate Banking / Debt Products

• Jonathon Booth has been appointed as Head of Structuring & Solutions with HSBC, earlier he was with Bank of America most recently as Head of Trade & Supply Chain Finance for Australia & Japan.

• Justin Dowd who has prior experience with TCorp, most recently as Head of Lending Solutions, has joined Mizuho Bank as Chief Risk Officer.

• Grace Hang, ex NAIF Associate, Investments, has joined SMBC’s project finance team.

Global Markets, Equities & Treasury

• Tom Moffat has been appointed as Head of Global Markets Sales ANZ with Natixis CIB, he joins from BNP Paribas where he was Head of Credit Sales for Singapore & Australia.

• Tim Prowse previously with Commonwealth Bank in institutional sales, has joined MUFG’s Institutional Investor Group focusing on credit sales Asia.

ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS

Private Equity / Family Office / Venture Capital

• David Bluff of Carlyle Group has been appointed as Future Fund’s Head of Private Equity.

• Luke Gersbach has been appointed as Managing Director with Salter Brothers. Luke was previously Head of Mirae Asset Global Investments Australia.

• Rachel Lawler, ex Gartner & Herbert Smith Freehills, joins Allegro as Director, Originations. Harry Muraledaran has also joined the firm as an Investment Associate from Rothschild.

• Mark Su who was Investment Director with H.R.L Morrison & Co has joined The Carlyle Group as Director.

• Rohan Barraclough prior with Marshall Investments where he was an Investment Manager, Principal Finance, has joined PrivateInvest as an Investment Director.

• Quadrant Private Equity have hired Tyson Smith and Nicole Loewensohn both from CPE Capital. Ashley White & Lachlan Morley - both ex Jefferies, have also joined the team as Investment Analysts.

• Nancy Chen who has prior experience with Arup & Macquarie’s MIRA, has joined PwC as Associate Director, Integrated Infrastructure.

• Antonia Zou has joined TPG Capital in Melbourne as Vice President from KKR New York where she was an Associate. TPG has also added Jasmine Cao to its ranks as a Senior Associate from OMERS Infrastructure.

• Lincoln Stollery previously with Pemba Capital Partners, has joined Roc Partners as Vice President, Deal Origination.  

• Tania Freeman has joined Jelix Ventures as Investment Manager from Wollemi Capital.

• Andrew Dellios has joined Tanarra Capital as an Investment Manager for their Long Term Value Fund. He has prior experience with Morgan Stanley as an Associate.

• Luke Cox, ex MA Financial Group, is now with Point King Capital as an Investment Associate.

• Jemma Potezny has joined Liverpool Partners from Johnson Winter & Slattery as an Investment Associate.

• Ben McDonald has joined Colinton Capital Partners as an Investment Associate, he was previously with MA Financial Group as an Investment Manager.

• Andrey Lebedev joins BGH Capital Melbourne as an Associate from Goldman Sachs London.

• Ashley Chen has joined Pacific Equity Partners’ Secure Assets Fund as an Associate from Skip Capital. Dina Zhelezkina has also joined the firm as an Associate from Goldman Sachs.

• Elliott Richardson previously with MA Financial Group, has joined Wingate as an Investment Associate.

• Michael Woo, ex Houlihan Lokey has joined Oaktree Capital Management as an Investment Associate.

• Jonathan Fielden previously with Nomura in London, has joined VCF Capital Partners as an Associate.

• David Kuster joins Crescent Capital Partners as an Investment Associate from Bain & Company.

• Melissa Gross, ex Credit Suisse’s investment banking team, has joined Era VC as an Investment Associate.

• Michael Oates has joined StepStone Group as an Analyst from PwC where he was an Associate in the energy transition team.

• Jack Rein has joined Navis Capital as an Investment Analyst from Jefferies.

Infrastructure / Renewables / Credit / Real Estate

• Angelo Scasserra has been appointed as Head of Real Estate Private Capital with Barrenjoey.  He was Head of Real Estate Investment Banking at Credit Suisse.

• Jason Watts, ex Westpac Executive Director & Head of Consumer and Industrials, has been appointed as Managing Director with Neu Capital.

• Tom Urquhart has joined Assetinsure as Director in the Financial Risk Products team. He has prior experience with Investec South Africa.

• Martin Serra, ex Credit Suisse New York, has joined Pacific Partnerships as Project Finance Director.

• Tim Snelgrove who has previous experience with Coaster Capital & RARE Infrastructure, has joined 4D Infrastructure as an Investment Director.

• Alisia Fabry has joined CPP Investments as a Senior Investment Associate from TCorp where she was Manager, Infrastructure Investments. Elenna Bai has also joined the team as an Associate in the APAC Infrastructure & Energy investment team from Gresham.

• Murray Robinson joins Ares Management as Vice President from Bain & Company where he was a Manager.

• Jane Xu previously with Grant Samuel as an Executive has joined Palisade Investment Partners as an Investment Associate.

• Manbir Miglani joins Macquarie Capital’s Infrastructure team as an Associate from Credit Suisse.

• Natalia Bueno Gómez previously with Impact Investment Partners, has joined QIC Melbourne as an Associate.

• Jerry Li has joined Partners Group as Investment Analyst from Bank of America.

• David Russell (Project Partners) & Kevin Cheung (BAML) are joining Capella Capital as Manager.

• Ben Murray, ex RBCCM & Morgan Stanley has joined Federation Asset Management’s energy transition team.

• Ben Zhang (EY) is moving to Equis Development as Investment Analyst

• Grace Kim who has prior experience with Societe Generale as Analyst, Infrastructure, has joined QIC’s private debt team.

• Eugene Wen, ex UBS has joined Igneo Infrastructure Partners as an Executive.

• Sophie Harrowell has joined Squadron Energy as an Investment Analyst from Credit Suisse where she was an Investment Banking Analyst.

FUNDS MANAGEMENT

Distribution & Advice

• Michael Vercoe has been appointed as Head of Investor Relations with Lendlease from AMP.

• Jonathan Jenkins, ex Credit Suisse, joins BlackRock in a Head of Client Business role.

• Peter Folkes has joined Real Asset Management Group as Head of Distribution from Orca Funds Management.

• Mark Hearne has joined Macquarie’s Asset Management team as Associate Director from Fidante Partners where he was Senior Strategic Account Manager.

Investments

• Recently founded by Michael Skinner, Jarred Rubin, Matthew Dell & Maggie Mills - Blackwattle Investment Partners sees the hires of Portfolio Managers, Tim Riordan (Aware Super), Robert Hawkesford (Ellerston Capital), Ray David (Schroders), Joseph Koh (Schroders), Michael Teran (Aware Super) & Daniel Broeren (Watermark Funds Management).

• Michael McQueen has been appointed CIO at Foresters Financial.  He previously held CIO roles with Media Super and LUCRF Super.

• Sean Anthonisz (ex Mine Super) will lead Aware Super’s new investment risk division commencing in July. Joining him is Wei-Ting Pan (also ex Mine Super) as an Investment Analyst. Aware also sees the hire of Ganesh Suntharam as Portfolio Manager. He was previously a Senior Portfolio Manager & CIO of Redpoint Investment Management.

• Ben Clifford joins Argonaut as Managing Director & Co-Head of Funds Management in Sydney. Ben was previously Co-Head of Equities ANZ with Goldman Sachs.

• Megan Talmage who has prior experience with Blue Orbit Asset Management & IFM Investors, has joined AustralianSuper as Portfolio Manager, Portfolio Construction & Strategy.

• Anthony Ip, previously with Citi, has joined Milford as Fixed Income Portfolio Manager.

• James Hou, ex Bank of China (Hong Kong), has joined Rest Super as a Senior Manager, Private Equity. Raul Joffe has also joined the team as a Senior Analyst, Private Equity from PwC.

• Kathy Huang joins Macquarie as Associate Director, Portfolio Manager from Challenger, where she was Portfolio Manager, Equity & Alternatives.

• Royce Haese – previously with Argonaut has joined Regal Funds Management as a Mining Analyst.

• Benjamin Vereb (MA Financial IB Analyst) – Joined Oxford Properties Group as Investment Analyst.

• Jack McNally has joined Airlie Funds Management as an Equity Analyst from 5AM Capital.

CORPORATE, GOVERNMENT & RISK MANAGEMENT

• Gavin Mullett who was most recently with HomeCo & earlier with Challenger, has joined North Harbour Clean Energy as a CFO.

• Charlotte Middleton, previously with ScotPac Business Finance, has joined Arch LMI as CRO.

• Alan Stuart-Grant has joined Santos as Executive Vice President, Energy Solutions. Alan has prior experience with Ampol & Glencore UK.

• Anthony Hogarth joins Virus Health as General Counsel & Company Secretary from Botany Group where he was Commercial Director.

• Domenic McEwan previously of CleanCo has joined Origin Energy as Senior Performance Analyst.

• Kevin Lee of Brookfield has joined Clean Energy Finance Corporation as a Director, Credit.

• Pericles Vounisios prior with MA Financial Group joins Cleanaway as Investment & Investor Relations Manager.  

• Matt Stephens has joined Lendlease as Senior Manager, New Business Investment Management from MA Financial Group where he was a Vice President.

• Han Jiang, ex Bank of America, has joined Telstra as Manager, M&A.

• Monica Jovanov previously Investment Banking Analyst with Highbury Partnership, has joined CSIRO as a Strategy Consultant.

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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