People moves

Merchant Equity Partners (MEP), the retail and consumer industries turnaround investor that bought MFI Retail in October this year, is pleased to announce that Joshua Spoerri is joining the group’s London office. Spoerri brings over ten years of European private equity experience to MEP. Prior to joining the firm, he helped establish Bank of America’s European private Equity business in 1995 and, as a Partner in BA Capital Partners Europe, participated in the creation of a €1.2 billion pan-European private equity portfolio. He was involved in the origination, execution and realisation of buyout, growth capital and restructuring transactions in Germany, Finland, France, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. During his tenure with BA Capital, Spoerri served on the board of Paroc, Janton, Kable BW and Numericable.

• Addleshaw Goddard has today announced the appointment of Andrew Carpenter as Head of Private Equity. Carpenter joins Addleshaw Goddard from US firm O’Melveny and Myers. Before joining OMM in 2004, Carpenter was Head of DLA’s City-based Private Equity practice, and responsible for developing its European profile. He specialises in private equity-backed transactions, mainly acting for institutional investors, but also investee companies and management teams. In the UK he has acted for players such as Cabot Square Capital, Indigo, Lyceum Capital, Montagu Private Equity, Phoenix Equity Partners, and Sovereign Capital Partners. Addleshaw Goddard’s Private Equity Group has worked on a wide range of transactions including the £675m acquisition by Dubai International Capital of Travelodge from Permira Funds, and the $100m BWA Water Additives IBO. Clients include 3i, Barclays Private Equity, Close Brothers Private Equity, ECI and the Graphite Capital Management, and LDC.
• Tim Noble, who founded the investment banking business Noble Group in 1980 with his brother Sir Iain Noble, will retire as chairman and from the board at the AGM in March 2007. His successor as chairman will be Ben Thomson, who is currently group chief executive. Ben Thomson joined in 1990, became chief executive of Noble & Company in 1997 and became chief executive of Noble Group on its formation in 2000. Thomson will be succeeded as chief executive by Angus Macpherson who joined Noble in January 2006. Macpherson had previously worked for Merrill Lynch & Co where he was Head of Asia Capital Markets & Financing. In addition Adam Grant who joined Noble in October 2006 will join the board as Finance Director. Grant joined Noble from Morgan Stanley International, where he has been a Managing Director since 2003 and was latterly COO of the European Finance Division. John Llewellyn-Lloyd and Henry Chaplin, who head up investment banking and fund management respectively will remain on the board