Duff & Phelps makes third Tullett hire

Duff & Phelps, a US corporate advisory firm with a growing secondaries business, has poached a third investment professional from a cross-town rival.

Maulik Patel has joined Duff & Phelps’ secondary market advisory team as a director, according to a spokesperson for the firm. He started last week.

Patel joins after more than seven years at broker dealer Tullett Prebon, where he worked on LP to LP transfers, auction processes and direct asset divestment across private equity, real state and hedge funds, according to his LinkedIn page.

“Maulik’s private equity industry experience, particularly amongst limited partners, will be invaluable to Duff & Phelps’ secondaries practice, especially in terms of our sourcing and placement capabilities”, said Richard Olson, managing director of Duff & Phelps’ secondaries team, in an emailed statement. “Maulik has a very strong network across a diverse range of institutions so we’re confident that he will be immediately able to help us to grow our offering to clients.”

Patel joins fellow directors Dan Nolan and Bill Arnold, who moved over from Tullett Prebon in January, Secondaries Investor reported.

Nolan said in March that the secondaries advisory team had 12 members, not including Patel, working across London, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Hong Kong and Mumbai. The firm is particularly looking to make a mark in the market for GP-led processes.

“The secondaries market as a whole may appear competitive in terms of numbers of intermediary service providers, but Duff & Phelps provides unique advisory capabilities for alternative asset managers,” Olson said. “We will choose our engagements in a way that we know we can deliver.”

In late 2017 Duff & Phelps was acquired by private equity firm Permira Advisers for $1.75 billion.