Asia-focused BDA Partners hires ex-Thrive, Lazard exec to lead secondaries

Asia-focused investment banking adviser BDA Partners has appointed a seasoned secondaries executive to head up its secondaries advisory business and launch its private capital advisory unit.

Singapore-based Dominik Woessner will take on the role of managing director and head of PCA secondaries, according to a statement.

Woessner – who will advise on GP-led and LP-led transactions – joins from GP advisory firm Thrive Alternatives, where he spent two years as a managing director. Prior to that, he worked at Lazard, where he was head of APAC secondaries, and was previously a managing director with Greenhill.

Woessner brings “extensive institutional investor relationships” and is already well known to many of BDA’s clients, managing partner and head of healthcare at BDA, Andrew Huntley, said in the statement.

The new PCA unit will advise private equity investors, as well as owners and managers of private assets, on liquidity options, working closely with BDA’s financial sponsors group and its industry bankers, managing partner and head of its financial sponsors group, Paul DiGiacomo, added.

“BDA’s clients are increasingly looking for secondaries solutions, and I’m excited to build a team to complement BDA’s bankers serving the private equity and institutional investor universe,” Woessner said, adding Asia is “ripe” for private capital advisory transactions.

Secondaries buyers are taking a cautious approach to investing capital in APAC currently, with market participants saying there is considerable demand for GP-led secondaries activity in the region, Secondaries Investor reported in April.