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Lazard’s De La Infiesta departs – exclusive

The investment bank's European head of private capital advisory has left after 11 years, Secondaries Investor has learned.

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Lazard’s European head of private capital advisory, who had been at the investment bank for almost 11 years, has left, Secondaries Investor has learned.

Managing director Pablo De La Infiesta left the firm in early May, according to two sources familiar with the matter. It is understood that De La Infiesta will remain in the advisory and fundraising business and that there is at least one firm courting him.

De La Infiesta, who joined Lazard in 2006, previously spent almost five years at Campbell Lutyens where he focused on fundraising and secondaries advisory, according to his LinkedIn profile. He began his career at Salomon Brothers.

In January, De La Infiesta told Secondaries Investor that a “third wave” was hitting the market in which established players were using the secondaries market for their older-vintage funds.

Lazard has worked on several GP-led restructuring processes that have failed to close over the last 12 months. In April the restructuring of Swedish mid-market private equity firm Segulah’s 2007-vintage buyout vehicle was cancelled after a strategic buyer made an offer for one of the fund’s prized assets, in a process run by the investment bank.

In August energy-focused firm First Reserve‘s attempt to restructure its 2006-vintage $7.8 billion fund failed when not enough limited partners wanting to sell their stakes. It is understood the firm’s process to raise an annex fund to First Reserve’s 2008-vintage $8.8 billion First Reserve Fund XII, which was unrelated to the restructuring deal, closed successfully.

Lazard advised on more than €4 billion of secondaries deals that closed in 2016, as Secondaries Investor reported in its annual advisory firm survey in March.

The investment bank also held closes on 20 private equity funds that raised more than $8.5 billion of capital commitments across leveraged buyouts, growth equity and distressed strategies, the firm told sister publication Private Equity International in November.

Lazard did not return a request for comment. De La Infiesta could not be reached for comment.