People Briefs

Arsenal Capital Partners has promoted Joelle Marquis to principal.

Avista Capital Partners, a New York private equity firm specializing in investments in the energy, healthcare and media sectors, has recruited Robin Domeniconi, the former president of Time Inc. Media Group, as a consultant to the firm.

Ian Carver has joined DLA Piper in the firm’s Boston office as a regional manager of their Venture Pipeline Group. Before joining DLA Piper, Carver spent the past eight years as a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

CDC Group, the UK Government-backed emerging market private equity fund of funds, appointed three senior directors: Hywel Rees-Jones, Investments Director; and two portfolio directors focused on Asia, Anubha Shrivastava and Veronica John.

Robb Chase

was named chief executive of Canadian weight-loss group Herbal Magic, which is backed by TorQuest Partners. He was formerly president of the international unit of Papa John’s International, a pizza chain.

Cooley Godward Kronish LLP has opened an office in Boston. The office features 10 Boston-based partners from other firms, including lead partner John Hession, who previously was with McDermott Will & Emery. Donald Fagen joins from Goulston & Storrs, and will lead Cooley’s business and tech practice in Boston, and its firm-wide private equity practice.

European Capital, a buyout firm and mezzanine provider, has hired Luis Felipe Castellanos from BNP Paribas to head up its new Madrid office. The new office will concentrate on mezzanine investments and flexible financing solutions for the Spanish market. European Capital, a subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed American Capital, also has offices in London, Paris and Frankfurt. Castellanos was previously managing director and head of leveraged finance of Spain and Portugal at BNP Paribas in Madrid, where he managed LBOs, MBOs, recapitalisations and refinancings.

Headwaters MB

, a mid-market investment banking firms based in Colorado, hired Chris Battel as a managing director. Battel was most recently the co-founder and president of Legacy Securities, a boutique investment banking firm.

Lehman Brothers has made a double promotion in the shape of Richard Atterbury and Philippe Dufournier as co-heads of global finance, Europe. Atterbury, who will keep his current role as co-head of financial sponsors investment banking, has been with the group since 2005 following a six year stint at Morgan Stanley. Dufournier joined in 2001 after 12 years at Bankers Trust, and was made head of its fixed income solutions division in 2003.

Edward Patorini, the faux private equity prankster that has made well over US$100bn in fake bids for companies such as Playboy Enterprises, Sony Corporation and Goldfields of South Africa is close to being collared by the SEC. A filing from the SEC in the Southern District of New York says that between January 2003 and April 2007, Pastorini aka Roxford/Niren/Vakil made a series of bogus offers to acquire publicly-traded companies and then publicised these through internet message boards, press releases and at least one filing with the SEC itself in order to increase the stock prices when he had no intention of buying the companies or the financial means to do so.

Paul Capital Investments, the private equity fund of funds manager, has appointed Dan Townsend as a principal of the firm in the New York office. He will be part of the firm’s co-investment team, headed by Dana O’Brien. Townsend arrives at Paul Capital with nine years at GE Asset Management under his belt, where he was vice president in the international private equity group.

Pershing Square Capital Management, which has been battling Ceridian over that company’s proposed buyout, indicated that it would not nominate a replacement director to the Ceridian board. Shareholders are scheduled to vote on Ceridian’s $5 billion buyout by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Fidelity National Financial in September. Pershing Square presented a slate of alternative directors for Ceridian’s board earlier this year.

Roark Capital Group has lost two partners, Daniel Lonergan and Scott Pressly, in the past month. The firm is currently trying to raise a $1 billion second fund.

RSM EquiCo Capital Markets, the investment bank, promoted Brian Boyle to senior managing director. Boyle previously held the title of managing director.

Former U.S. Trust CEO Peter Scaturro has joined Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as global head of its private wealth management business, according to Reuters, which cited an internal memo. Scaturro, who is 47, left New York-based private wealth manager U.S. Trust before it was acquired by Bank of America Corp. from Charles Schwab Corp. in a deal that closed earlier this month.

Daniel Schellenberg has joined consultancy Arthur D. Little as a New York-based manager in the firm’s private equity practice. He previously was with Droege & Company.

Compiled by Buyouts’ Staff