ICG poaches JPMorgan IR exec in west coast push

Intermediate Capital Group has hired an investor relations professional from JPMorgan Asset Management to focus on west coast marketing and client relations, according to a statement.

Chris Hawkins joined the mezzanine-focused firm on Monday and is based in San Francisco as a managing director in a newly created position. He will focus on marketing the firm’s investment strategies directly to institutional investors and managing existing relationships.

Hawkins, who was most recently an executive director at JPMorgan where he spent almost five years, has experience working with institutional investors across asset classes, including private equity, private debt, hedge funds and global real assets.

Prior to JPMorgan he focused on business development and client relationship management at State Street, and also has experience at Lehman Brothers where he was a senior vice-president.

He will report to Chris Austin, global head of consultant relations and director of marketing and client relations for the US.

London-headquartered ICG held the final close on ICG Strategic Secondaries Fund II, a fund restructurings-focused vehicle, on $1.1 billion at the end of March, as Secondaries Investor reported. The firm is also seeking capital for at least two debt vehicles: St Paul’s CLO VI, which has a €413 million target, and ICG Asia Pacific Fund III, a mezzanine fund that has raised $558 million towards an undisclosed target, according to PEI data.

The firm has around £22 billion ($28 billion; €26 billion) in assets under management, more than $4 billion of which are from its US business. It employs more than 40 professionals in its US team in New York.