Ark Totan exec surfaces at Partners Group

Tokyo-based Shunsuke Tanahashi joined the firm to focus on investor relations in April.

Partners Group has hired the co-founder and former chief executive of Japanese placement agent and secondaries advisory firm Ark Totan Alternative to focus on investor relations, sister publication Private Equity International has learned.

Shunsuke Tanahashi joined the global investment firm’s Tokyo office in April as a senior vice-president in its investment solutions team, a spokeswoman confirmed.

Tanahashi left Ark at the end of November due to management differences, as PEI reported in March. He joined Ark in 2010 from Japanese private equity and secondaries specialist Ant Capital Partners, where he co-headed the firm’s investor relations team.

At Ant Tanahashi worked with Japanese pension funds, trust banks and insurance companies, and he began his career at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust bank. He worked at Goldman Sachs Asset Management between 2008 and 2009.

Partners Group is in market with at least four vehicles and expects to have raised $2 billion by the summer for its latest direct private equity fund, Partners Group Direct Investments 2016, according to PEI reports. The firm is also seeking at least $2 billion for its latest real estate secondaries fund, Partners Group Real Estate Secondary 2017, according to PEI data.