Private Equity Firms

Avista Capital Partners has appointed Brian Markison as a health care industry executive. Markison has more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceuticals sector, most recently as president and chief executive officer of Fougera Pharmaceuticals, a dermatology-focused pharmaceuticals company that was spun off from Nycomed A/S in 2011 and sold to Sandoz, the generics division of Novartis, in July 2012.

Blackstone Group LP has appointed Lionel Assant as head of its European private equity operations following the promotion of Joseph Baratta to global private equity head, the world’s largest alternative asset manager said in an internal memo. Assant, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. investment banker, joined Blackstone in 2003 and had worked on several major deals with Baratta, who was appointed global buyouts chief in July and relocated to London from New York.

Blackstone Group LP has appointed James Carnegie, a former partner at Australian private equity firm Archer Capital, as a senior adviser as the firm pursues buyout opportunities in Australia, Reuters reported. Blackstone has completed one deal in Australia and New Zealand outside the real estate sector—its buyout last year of New Zealand fast food chain Antares Restaurant Group, Reuters wrote.

Jillian Crump has tendered her resignation as chief financial officer of C.A. Bancorp Inc. to pursue other opportunities. Kurt Brands, the company’s chief executive officer, will assume the responsibilities of the chief financial officer going forward. C.A. Bancorp, based in Toronto, is a publicly traded Canadian merchant bank and alternative asset manager that provides investors with access to a range of private equity and other alternative asset class investments.

CVC Credit Partners has named Tom Newberry as a senior managing director and head of the group’s private funds business. He was formerly a managing director at Credit Suisse. CVC Credit Partners is part of CVC Capital Partners, and is an independent asset management and investment group.

Foresight Group, an alternative asset manager and private equity house, has appointed Dan Wells as director, U.S. solar. Based initially in the UK with the specialist infrastructure team, Wells will lead the development of Foresight’s solar business in the United States, building on Foresight’s 100MW operating solar portfolio in Europe. Prior to Foresight, Wells was based in Singapore, running the global corporate finance team at Sindicatum Sustainable Resources.

Eugene Shenkar has joined GI Partners in San Francisco as an associate, according to the company’s site. Shenkar previously worked at Morgan Stanley as an analyst.

Late-stage investor Institutional Venture Partners, which raised its first $1 billion fund earlier this year, has added Kelly O’Kane and Parsa Saljoughian as associates. Prior to joining IVP, Parsa worked at ThinkEquity LLC, a technology-focused investment bank. Kelly worked in the technology investment banking division of Piper Jaffray.

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners has added Peter Borges to its team. Borges, now a managing director at Levine Leichtman, is also co-head of investor relations. He is focused on “identifying sources of investor capital and new product development,” according to the firm’s  Web site. Previously, he worked at CityView as managing director and senior vice president for capital markets and investor services.

James Barrington-Wells is joining Rutland Partners, the UK turnaround investor, as an investment executive, the firm announced. The firm’s investing team has grown to 13 professionals.

Dana Pawlicki has joined Stonington Capital Advisors as a managing partner. He joins from Evercore Partners’ private funds group where he was a founding partner. At Evercore, Pawlicki worked for three years as managing director, head of origination and project management.

Strategic Value Partners, an investment firm focused on distressed, event driven and turnaround investments, has appointed Stephen J. McGuinness as a senior managing director. McGuinness will report to Victor Khosla, SVP’s founder and senior managing director.