CPPIB in market for two senior principals

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board wants to bulk up its senior secondaries investment team following the departure of its global and European heads.

The pension’s secondaries group, which invests in private equity secondaries transactions globally, is seeking two senior principals based in North America and Europe respectively, according to a job advert.

The successful candidates will lead global deal teams in originating, executing and managing secondaries investments across buyout, growth and venture assets, the advert notes.

The ideal candidate will have at least 13 years’ private equity, or other relevant, experience, a track record of sourcing, executing and completing successful deals, and experience leading negotiations with multiple stakeholders, among other qualities.

The senior principals will report to managing director and head of secondaries Dushy Sivanithy, who joined the pension giant in 2018. Former secondaries head Michael Woolhouse left over the summer to lead TPG’s launch into secondaries.

Woolhouse’s departure was followed by that of senior principal and Europe lead Nik Morandi, who resurfaced at Blackstone’s Strategic Partners, as Secondaries Investor reported.

CPPIB’s secondaries team comprises more than 20 investment professionals in Toronto and London, the advert notes.

The pension made C$0.7 billion ($0.54 billion; €0.45 billion) of secondaries investments across six deals in the 12 months to 31 March, a drop on C$5.5 billion during the previous fiscal year and $C4.2 billion the fiscal year before that.

It cited “two very active deployment years and a cautious market outlook” as the reasons for moderating its investment pace.

The pension has the equivalent of $80.7 billion invested in private equity, making it the world’s largest PE investor, according to sister title Private Equity International‘s Global Investor 100 ranking.