PE houses expand into Europe

Candover, the private equity firm with offices in the UK, France and Germany, has opened an office in Milan to be headed by Aldo Maccari, who joined Candover in September 2005.Laura Marangione, a graduate of Bocconi, joins Candover from BNP Paribas Corporate Finance as an investment manager. Candover was one of the three shortlisted bidders in last year’s high profile but aborted sale of Star, the Italian stock cube producer.

The mid-market private equity fund Doughty Hanson has also opened an office in Madrid. Francisco Gutierrez Churtichaga, aged 41, is to become Principal and Head of Private Equity, Madrid. He joins from JP Morgan Partners where he originated and executed private equity investments in Spain. Prior to that, he worked at JP Morgan Capital and Retevision S.A. Barcelona. Juan Barba Silvela, age 34, will join in December 2006 as Principal and Head of Real Estate, Madrid, having been General Manager at Aareal Bank, Spain. There are also reports that Texas Pacific is to open an office in Moscow.