CVC hires Clark from Welsh Carson for tech coverage

Chris Stadler, managing partner of CVC, said Clark “will be a great addition to this team,” according to a prepared statement. 

“Our recent investments in Avast and Cerved in Europe and SPi Global in Asia highlight our strong interest in the software and tech-enabled business services sectors,” Lorne Somerville, CVC partner and head of telecommunications, media and technology, said in a prepared statement. ”We are very fortunate to be able to attract an investor of John’s caliber and I look forward to working with him to expand our presence in these sectors especially in the middle market.”

“I am delighted to have the opportunity to join such a world-class organization and one of the most successful platforms in the private equity industry today,” Clark said.

CVC executives and Clark declined an interview request from Buyouts.

Clark most recently worked as general partner and as a member of the management committee at Welsh, Carson, Anderson  & Stowe,and also as director of Paycom Software, Peak 10, NewAsurion, Savvis, Lytx and other portfolio companies. Paycom Software, a provider of payroll and human resources technology services, is currently in registration for an initial public offering, with plans to raise about $126 million.

The move marks a relatively rare departure of a high-ranking executive from a well-established firm, where he possibly would have held unvested carried interest. But London-based CVC clearly has the resources to beef up its presence in tech after raising about $14 billion last year for its flagship CVC Capital Partners VI, hitting its hard cap in six months, after turning away some investors. 

CVC’s home turf of Europe has been an area of interest for buyout shops as it recovers from both a regional sovereign debt crisis and the global financial crisis.

CVC is currently in the market with its fourth Asian fund with a target of about $3 billion. The fund drew commitments from Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, according to sister news service Reuters.

Welsh Carson is targeting $3 billion for its next buyout fund, WCAS XII, according to a report by sister website peHub. The firm did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment on Clark’s departure.

Prior to joining Welsh Carson in 2000, Clark was a general partner at Saunders, Karp & Megrue, where he worked for seven years. He received an M.B.A. from Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1992 and holds a degree in computer science from Princeton University.