News & Analysis

Campbell Lutyens continues international development with Origami hire

The private capital advisory firm has hired a principal in the Chicago office, opened a Paris office and hired a vice-president to their London office in the past nine months.

-

Private capital advisory Campbell Lutyens has made a principal-level hire to strengthen its secondaries advisory team in North America.

The firm has hired Darren O’Brien in its Chicago office, according to a statement. O’Brien, who joined in May, was most recently a partner at Origami Capital Partners, a manager that targets assets trapped in illiquid fund structures, also based in Chicago.

“His transaction experience will be valuable in supporting the further growth of our secondary advisory business in North America as we see a notable increase in activity among both GPs and LPs, particularly in the Midwest where Darren will be based,” said Gerald Cooper, partner and head of secondaries in North America.

The firm established its US-based secondaries team in 2017 and has advised on $10.3 billion of transaction volume since inception across private equity, infrastructure and private credit, according to the statement.

The hire comes as Campbell Lutyens continues to bolster its operation worldwide. The advisory firm and placement agent opened a bureau in Paris to combat Brexit uncertainty, bringing its global office count to eight, Secondaries Investor reported in March.

Former Greenhill vice-president Yannick Mir joined in the London office in November to focus on GP-led deals in the areas of infrastructure and credit, Secondaries Investor reported at the time.

Hiring activity in secondaries advisory remains highly frenetic as firms look to position themselves to capture this year’s expected rebound in transaction volume, which could rise to the level of $100 billion by year end, according to the co-head of a global secondaries buyer, speaking to an industry-wide consensus expectation, off of last year’s pandemic-impacted figure of $61 billion.

Jefferies hired Guggenheim Partners’ secondaries team last month after enticing a team from Greenhill in February. Raymond James Financial acquired secondaries advisory Cebile Capital last month as well. Aviditi Advisors, Goldman Sachs, Rothschild & Co and Tradition are among those to plant a flag in the advisory market over the past 18 months, Secondaries Investor reported.