Bridgepoint loses 2 to L&GV

Legal & General Ventures has appointed Hagen Schulte and Dr Hans Jorg Schnabel as directors of its Frankfurt office. Both Schulte and Schnabel are currently with mid market private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital.

They will join – dates have yet to be agreed – Christian Schlesiger who is managing director and runs the Frankfurt office. Schlesiger shares responsibility for German coverage with managing director Andrew Cole, who is based in London.

Schulte and Schnabel effectively replace Brian Veitch and Mark Elborn who both decamped to Electra Partners last year – see evcj November issue, p28. As a consequence of Schulte and Schnabel’s appointment Legal & General Ventures staffing is close to full complement.

Adrian Johnson, who leads Legal & General Ventures from London, says that he expects to appoint one or two more individuals in the Frankfurt office before year-end. Johnson is not set as to the level of seniority of these recruits. The London and Paris offices were bought up to full staff last year.

Schulte was in the private equity division of Goldman Sachs prior to joining Bridgepoint Capital and, says Johnson, has seven years of private equity experience. And Schnabel was with PricewaterhouseCoopers prior to joining Bridgepoint Capital.

Legal & General Ventures did not complete any deals in Germany last year but has recently made a further investment in its 1999 buyout of Sinnef, the largest European tyre retailer. Sinnef is pursuing a buy and build strategy and this latest injection was to fund acquisitions.