PCG sets up in Europe

PCG Asset Management, a unit of Pacific Corporate Group LLC (PCG), the California-based investment management and advisory firm, has established a European office to better serve its growing European client base.

Michael Russell, 41, the firm’s managing director for Europe, who has relocated from La Jolla, will run the office, located in Geneva, Switzerland. The expansion follows the formation of a new PCG International division, based in Washington DC, which will focus on the less developed private equity markets, primarily in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

PCG has been an active investor in European private equity funds since 1990, generating a return in excess of 30% on over $2bn of committed capital. Last year, the group was awarded a mandate to invest on behalf of Avadis Anlagestiftung, an investment foundation comprised of many of the largest corporate pension funds in Switzerland. Due to this increasing level of activity in Europe, the group believes the time is right to establish an office in Europe. The Geneva location was chosen because of its ease of access to clients across Europe and its strength as an international financial centre.