On the move, 3.21.2016

PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS

Jon Short has joined Arena Investors LP as president. Most recently, Short was a managing director and head of wealth management at PIMCO.

Bow River Capital Partners hired Jonah Cave as a partner to further develop the firm’s investor relations and fundraising platforms. Cave joins the firm from UBS, where he led the Americas client trading and execution platform. Prior to working at UBS, Jonah was a managing director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Charlesbank Capital Partners hired Neil Kalvelage as operating partner. Kalvelage joins Charlesbank from Bain Capital, where he worked for 10 years as operating partner, most recently building a team in Melbourne, Australia.

San Francisco-based GI Partners named Achi Yaffe as its first operating principal. Yaffe will lead GI’s value creation capabilities with the objective of increasing the firm’s support of its portfolio companies. Yaffe was previously a principal at Lee Equity Partners, where he helped portfolio companies develop business plans and execute strategic initiatives.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc has named Pete Lyon and David Ludwig to co-head its equity capital markets group in the Americas, according to a memo seen by Reuters.

HIG Capital hired Giuseppe Mirante as managing director of Bayside Capital, the firm’s distressed investing affiliate. Mirante, who will be based in London, joined the firm from BNP Paribas, where he was head of distressed and loan research.

KKR said that Scott Bookmyer, member and COO of KKR Asia, will also take direct responsibility for KKR Australia, effective July 1. Bookmyer will move to Sydney from Hong Kong. He will remain COO of KKR Asia Pacific.

Liberty Hall Capital Partners named Jim Naylor its SVP and CFO of AIM Aerospace. It also appointed Robert Murdock SVP of AIM’s Business Development. Liberty Hall bought AIM Aerospace in February.

New World Angels said Stephen M. O’Hara was elected president of NWA. On April 1, O’Hara will succeed Rhys L. Williams who will transition to chairman of NWA’s board of directors.

Pritzker Group hired Kristi Dula as its first network relationship manager. Based in Chicago, Dula will be responsible for facilitating relationships for Pritzker’s family of companies, connecting them with the firm’s network of experts, strategic partners and potential customers.

Waud Capital Partners partnered with George Ahn, a software industry executive, to pursue investments in the vertically focused application software industry. Ahn most recently served as the head of IBM’s smart infrastructure software organization. Ahn was chief executive of Tririga for six years prior to its acquisition by IBM in 2011.

PORTFOLIO COMPANIES

GlobalTranz Enterprises Inc named Robert “Bob” Farrell as its CEO. Andrew Leto, GlobalTranz’s founder and current CEO, will continue on the board. GlobalTranz, a freight management solution provider, is backed by Providence Equity Partners and Susquehanna Growth Equity.

James Scullion was named CEO of Great Bay Software, a portfolio company of Alpine Investors. Most recently Scullion served as CEO at Bunchball.

Limetree Bay Terminals LLC has named Darius Sweet as CEO. Limetree Bay is backed by ArcLight Capital Partners LLC and Freepoint Commodities LLC. Limetree, in January, acquired the assets of Hovensa’s St. Croix facility consisting of about 32 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum product storage, idled refinery units and a deep-water port with 10 petroleum docks.

SERVICE PROVIDERS

Fred Fraenkel has joined Cowen Group Inc as vice chairman. Previously, Fraenkel was president of Fairholme Capital Management and chief research officer since 2011.

Adam Larson joined Kirkland & Ellis LLP as a corporate partner in the firm’s Houston office. Larson was previously a partner at Vinson & Elkins LLP, where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions and the energy private equity space.

Chicago-based investment bank Livingstone hired Brennan Libbey as a partner in the firm’s new Los Angeles office. Libbey will head Livingstone’s U.S. business services and West Coast teams. He joins the firm from Houlihan Lokey, where he led the business services group. The appointment is Livingstone’s first hiring announcement in Los Angeles.

Mizuho Securities USA, the U.S. investment banking subsidiary of the global Mizuho Financial Group, has named Jerry Rizzieri as its president and CEO. Rizzieri served as executive managing director and head of the Fixed Income Division since 2011. Rizzieri succeeds John Koudounis as Mizuho Securities USA president and CEO, who has decided to leave the firm to pursue an opportunity with an unnamed asset management company.

NewOak hired Jonna Boyle as a director in its credit services division. Boyle will join the firm’s regulatory and compliance team in Dallas. She previously founded and was president of Iron Compliance LLC, a boutique consulting firm.

Sidley Austin LLP added six new partners to its private equity and corporate practice in London. The six new hires, who have worked together as a team several years, primarily represent private equity sponsors operating in Europe. The hires include corporate partners Erik Dahl, Christian IwaskoSava Savov, and Fatema Orjela. Also joining the team are leveraged finance partner Bryan Robson and tax partner Oliver Currall.

Zeus Capital made its first step into the oil and gas and mining sectors with the appointment of Rob Collins as a corporate finance director and head of natural resources. Collins joins the firm from GMP Securities Europe, where he was head of oil and gas investment banking, according to his LinkedIn profile. Collins has also worked as head of oil and gas banking at Evolution Group and as head of natural resources at Canaccord Genuity.

PROMOTIONS

American Century Investments promoted four to its investment management team. Sherwin Soo is promoted to portfolio manager on the emerging markets equity team. Rob Bove is promoted to portfolio manager on the U.S. Systematic Large Cap Core strategy. Nalin Yogasundram is promoted to portfolio manager on the U.S. Opportunistic Mid Cap Growth strategy. Lastly, Don Owen is promoted to portfolio manager and senior quantitative analyst on Legacy Multi Cap and Veedot.

Advisory firm Duff & Phelps promoted 13 professionals to managing director. Promotions in the firm’s M&A practice include Nicholas Clemens, Darren Gange, Bradley Hileman, Laura McNaughton, Margaret Mi and Edward Mielke. Also promoted were Carla NunesMarianna Todorova-LarkinBrian GoreLauryn Haake, Michael LateurChris Matteson and Todd Wilcher. 

FTV Capital promoted Kyle Griswold to partner. Robert Anderson and Aly Lovett were also promoted to principals while Richard Liu was named a vice president.

HIG Capital promoted John Von Bargen and Todd Ofenloch to managing directors in its U.S. LBO group.

HIG Middle Market promoted Matt Lozow to managing director and hired Alok Sanghvi as a managing director. They will lead HIG’s Business Services investment efforts. Lozow has been a member of HIG’s New York Middle Market team since joining the firm in 2009. Sanghvi previously led corporate development at MultiPlan Inc. HIG Middle Market is the middle market investment affiliate of HIG Capital.

Linsalata Capital Partners, a Cleveland-based private equity firm, promoted Jeffrey S. Wahl to managing director and operating partner. Wahl joined Linsalata in 2014 from private equity-backed EdisonLearning, where he was president and chief executive. The firm also promoted Murad A. Beg to managing director and James V. Guddy to principal.