Vestar Promotes Three to M.D. Rank –

Vestar Capital Partners recently announced the promotion of three employees to the position of managing director, which gives the firm a total of 17 professionals with that title.

With this latest wave of change, David Hooper and Steven Silver have become managing directors in the New York office and Chris Henderson in the Denver office.

Silver joined Vestar in 1995. He previously was a member of the mergers and acquisition group at Wasserstein Perella & Co.

Hooper signed on with Vestar in 1994. He had been a member of The Blackstone Group‘s principal investment group and Drexel Burnham Lambert‘s M&A department.

Henderson joined Vestar in 1993. He previously worked in M&A at Credit Suisse First Boston.

Additionally, Brian Ratzan, who joined Vestar in 1998, was named a vice president.

Daniel O’Connell, chief executive officer of Vestar, said his firm makes title changes once a year, before the new class of analysts and associates out of business schools and investment banks join the firm. Last year, Vestar awarded only one professional the managing director spot when it promoted Todd Khoury into the position.

In September, seven new analysts and associates will be joining the firm, O’Connell said.