Jefferies taps HarbourVest for Europe hire

Jefferies has added to its European secondaries advisory team after making a raft of US hires over the past eight months.

The investment bank has appointed Frank Schwahn as a vice-president in its private capital advisory team, according to his LinkedIn profile. He joined in May from a five-year stint at HarbourVest Partners where he was a senior associate in the global secondaries investment team.

Schwahn joins London-based global co-head Brenlen Jinkens, who joined Jefferies in the third quarter of last year alongside fellow Greenhill managing directors Scott Beckelman, Todd Miller, Andy Nick and Chris Bonfield to start a secondaries advisory unit.

Senior vice-presidents Wes Bender and Jason Morris, and vice-presidents Tom Ault, Brian Cotter and Apoorva Wanchoo moved to Jefferies from Greenhill in February, along with three associates and seven analysts. All are US based.

Last month, Secondaries Investor reported that Jefferies had lured away Guggenheim Partners’ four-person secondaries advisory unit to work on GP-led deals. That team, led by managing director Matthew Wesley, had been in place less than one year.

“Frank Schwahn departed in April 2021 after the conclusion of his time in our Associate Program,” said HarbourVest in a statement. “The new Associate Program cycle has now began in London and we are delighted to welcome two new associates to our team.”

Aviditi Advisors, Goldman Sachs and Rothschild & Co are among those to have planted a flag in the advisory market over the past 12 months, Secondaries Investor has reported.

Jefferies declined to comment.