Keyhaven makes pair of senior hires

Keyhaven Capital has made two senior appointments.

The London-headquartered niche secondaries firm has appointed Anne Niederstaetter as partner in its investment team to lead efforts in German-speaking Europe, according to a statement. Niederstaetter joins after spending 20 years at JP Morgan, where she was most recently providing M&A advice, and debt and equity financing to EMEA family offices.

Recent investments made by Keyhaven in the DACH region include e-commerce platform reBuy and industrials business Evago, the statement noted.

Keyhaven has also added Alma Lawrie to its investor relations and fundraising team. Over the past 20 years she has held IR roles at Gulf-based private equity firms Samena Capital and Gulf Capital, and Deloitte’s London-based Fund Placement Advisory Group, among others.

The hires bring Keyhaven’s headcount to 23, including 12 investment professionals.

“European lower mid-market companies represent some of the most exciting and innovative companies in the world and they have the potential to bring great value to their employees and communities as well as higher returns to shareholders, said Sasha van de Water, managing partner at Keyhaven. “This continues to be true despite the challenges brought on by the current health and economic crisis.”

Keyhaven’s last secondaries fund was the 2019-vintage Keyhaven Secondaries (Top Up) II, which raised more than €100 million, according to a source with knowledge of the fundraise.

This followed the 2015-vintage Keyhaven Secondaries Fund II, which raised €250 million, Secondaries Investor understands. Its funds target limited partnership interests, direct secondaries and structured transactions.

Keyhaven is a specialist secondaries private equity firm dedicated to European lower mid-market businesses. It has raised more than €2 billion since it was founded in 2003, according to the statement.