Vista adds KKR exec DeBernardo to growing IR team

Ralph DeBernardo joined Vista in September as a senior associate on the IR team, according to Vista’s website. A source close to the firm confirmed the hiring.

DeBernardo is responsible for marketing and relationship management with existing and prospective investors. Previously, he worked at KKR for more than two years as a member of the Client & Partner Group, where he helped raise capital and manage relationships, Vista’s website said. Prior to KKR, DeBernardo spent almost three years at J.P. Morgan Asset Management as an institutional sales analyst, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Vista’s IR team is led by former New Jersey public pension system alternatives chief Christine Pastore, who joined the firm in 2013 and began building the function. The firm hired Sathya Shanthakumar as vice president of investor relations in January. Shanthakumar spent more than six years as a senior associate of marketing and investor relations for Silver Lake.

In October, Vista announced it had closed its fifth flagship fund on about $5.8 billion, crushing its original $3.5 billion target. The firm raised $3.5 billion for its fourth fund in 2012. Vista last year closed its second Foundation Fund, which targets small and mid-cap software companies, on $1.1 billion, beating its initial $500 million target.

The firm has been in the market with its debut credit vehicle, which has been targeting $600 million for investments in enterprise software loans, a majority of which will be for the firm’s own deals.

The credit fund has collected at least $119 million as of this month, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. However, a market source told Buyouts sister publication peHUB in a prior interview the fund had collected a total of about $180 million.

Vista could not be reached for comment as of press time.