European People, July 2010

Tony Blair to Advise Khosla Ventures

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has joined U.S. venture firm Khosla Ventures as a senior advisor focusing on the firm’s cleantech portfolio.

Khosla Ventures was founded in 2004 by Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and a former general partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The firm specializes in clean technology and IT investments.

“I share a clear vision with Vinod, one of the earliest leaders in cleantech investment, that entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and beyond will have a tremendous impact on our environmental future,” Blair said in a prepared statement.

Apax Hires McKinsey MD

London-based Apax Partners has hired Ian Davis as a senior advisor. Davis joins Apax from management consulting firm McKinsey & Co., where he was previously worldwide managing director.

Based in Apax’s London office, Davis will officially join the firm in July. In his new role, he will be responsible for advising CEO Martin Halusa on Apax’s international growth strategy.

“Ian has exceptional experience in meeting the challenges of creating a global professional services firm,” Halusa said in a prepared statement.

Ex-Citigroup MD Joins Moelis

Global investment bank Moelis & Co. has hired Hervé Malausséna as managing director focusing on telecom sector advisory work.

Based in Moelis’s London office, he will provide senior level advice to clients in the telecommunications sector in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Malausséna joins from Citigroup where he was managing director and head of EMEA telecom and I-Banking. He has almost 20 years of investment banking experience.

Maven Promotes Hamilton

Lower mid-market private equity firm Maven Capital Partners, the private equity spin out of Aberdeen Asset Management, has appointed Gemma Hamilton as investment manager to its Northern team.

Hamilton will focus on new investments in small U.K. companies requiring £1 million to £6 million of equity finance, including MBOs/MBIs, expansion capital, replacement capital and acquisition finance. Based in Maven’s Glasgow office, she will work alongside Andrew Craig, Ryan Bevington, David Milroy and Jonty Hall.

Simmons Nabs McNab from Travers

After four years service with law firm Travers Smith, Steven McNab has been hired by law firm Simmons & Simmons to be head of environmental and climate change at the firm.

Prior to Travers Smith, McNab worked at Jones Day and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The latest addition to the Simmons team has significant experience in environmental planning and health and safety aspects of national and international transactions and projects.

Echarri Says Goodbye to EVCAJavier Echarri, secretary general of the European Venture Capital Association (EVCA), plans to resign at the end of this year. His replacement is yet to be announced.

“The AIFM Directive process is drawing to a close, after a long and challenging process in which we have not achieved everything that we set out to gain, but have succeeded in having many of the most egregious proposals excluded,” Echarri said in a prepared statement. “I will continue to fight in the remaining months of this process on the important issues of third country investment and levels of disclosure for smaller portfolio companies.”

Echarri will wind down his role at EVCA over the next six months and plans, “after a long holiday,” to work in the private equity industry.

Fricke Named EVCA ChairUli Fricke, founding general partner and CEO of Triangle Venture Capital Group, has succeeded Richard Wilson of Apax Partners to become chairwoman of the EVCA.

“The public image of our industry is at odds with reality,” Fricke said in a prepared statement. “Misinterpretation around early stage venture capital, where I have spent much of my career, is just as rife and damaging as the frequent mischaracterisation of larger scale private equity activity. EVCA will undertake a long-term campaign to set the record straight and to rehabilitate the image of the entire industry and its different segments.”

Climate Change Capital Hires Renewables Chief

Environmental investment manager Climate Change Capital (CCC) has set up a new European renewable energy infrastructure asset management team and has appointed Stephen Lilley to lead it.

“With our partners in the E.U. increasingly committed to stricter emissions targets and a new U.K. government, it has become clear that this will mean a massive change in the way we consume energy,” CCC Chief Executive Shaun Mays said in a prepared statement.

Lilley was previously a principal in the European infrastructure fund run by M&G/Prudential Group.

Palamon Recruits Hauptmeier

Mid-market private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners has appointed Dietrich Hauptmeier as an associate principal.

Hauptmeier was previously with Pension DCisions, where he spent the past three years as startup finance director, and, before that, he was a principal at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Hauptmeier is the 18th member of Palamon’s London-based investment team.

BNP Expands Funds Team

Paris-based BNP Paribas Private Equity has promoted two senior executives in its fund-of-funds team.

Jean-Marc Rivet-Fusil has been appointed head of the fund-of-funds team. He will be assisted by Stéphanie Egoian, who has been promoted to chief investment officer. Together the duo will form the firm’s investment committee.

Rivet-Fusil joined the investment team in 2007 as CIO for the fund-of-funds business. Prior to BNP, he spent over 11 years at Amundi, Access Capital Partners, Banexi Ventures Partners and Banexi Participations.

Egoian joined the investment team in 2005 as investment director. She joined BNP in 1999 after five years as an investment manager at Crédit Agricole.