Advent fundraiser Maggie Sahlman to leave the firm

Maggie Littlefield Sahlman, a principal at Advent International who works on fundraising and investor relations, is leaving the firm, a person with knowledge of the situation told Buyouts.

It’s unclear whether Sahlman has already left Advent. Questions about fundraising were referred to Robert Weaver, managing director and global co-head of limited-partner services, the person said.

A spokesman for Advent declined to comment. Sahlman couldn’t be reached.

Sahlman joined the firm in 2007 from Goldman Sachs, where she worked on product management for the private equity group, according to Advent’s website.

At Advent, she worked on fundraising in North America and Latin America.

Advent closed its most recent pool, Advent International GPE VIII, on $13 billion last year. That fund focuses on business and financial services; healthcare; industrial; retail, consumer and leisure, and technology, media and telecom.

Advent raised eyebrows when it decided to drop a preferred return from Fund VIII, making a change from the prior fund, which had an 8 percent hurdle. GPs have to hit the preferred-return mark before they can start collecting carried interest. These benchmarks are generally seen as LP-friendly.

GPs can argue, however, that hurdles can create situations unfavorable to LPs. A GP, for example, may be tempted to take larger risks if its fund remains well under the hurdle while running low on investable capital.

Action Item: Check out Advent’s annual review here: http://bit.ly/2lnkovd

Photo of Maggie Littlefield Sahlman courtesy Advent International