Cogent augments secondaries team

Cogent Partners, a secondaries-focused private equity investment bank, has promoted Bernhard Engelien to managing director and hired Briac Houtteville as an associate.

Engelien has been working at Cogent in London for the last three years, having formerly spent six years as an associate principal at management consultancy, McKinsey & Company. He started his career at Goldman Sachs in London.

Houtteville, who will also be based in London, joins the firm from Ernst & Young in Paris where he was a manager in transaction services. Prior to this he was a senior auditor at KPMG.

Since Cogent was established in 2001 it has advised on more than $20 billion (€15 billion) in private equity commitments. The firm is headquartered in Dallas, with offices in London, New York and Tokyo.