Looking back: Top people stories of 2017

Private equity is a relationships business, and secondaries is no exception.

The last 12 months have been punctuated by surprising moves – particularly in the advisory community – as well as retirements and departures from the industry altogether.

Here are the top five stories on the subject in the market this year:

1. Credit Suisse’s Mark McDonald joins Deutsche Asset Management

In a surprising move, McDonald, who had been the investment bank’s global head of secondaries since the beginning of the year, returned to the buy-side to rebuild Deutsche’s secondaries business after its team spun out in August.

The Deutsche spin-out to form Glendower Capital also led to the departure of the firm’s Asia secondaries head, Jason Sambanju.

2. Park Hill’s Larry Thuet steps back

Thuet, a founding member of Park Hill, became vice-chairman at the advisory firm in September as Jon Costello took over as head of secondaries. A stalwart of the secondaries advisory landscape, Thuet shifted his focus to client coverage and origination in secondaries, as well as opportunities for cross-business collaboration, according to a memo obtained by Secondaries Investor at the time.

3. Lazard’s Pablo De La Infiesta joins Moelis

The investment bank’s European head of private capital advisory, an 11-year veteran of the firm, left in May. De La Infiesta resurfaced two months later at Moelis & Company as managing director and head of the private funds advisory group in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, marking the firm’s first hire in its push into European alternatives advisory.

4. Evercore’s Nicolas Lanel resigns

A founding member of the advisory unit and head of European private capital advisory, Lanel announced he was stepping away from the partnership in October and would no longer officially be with Evercore by the end of 2017. Lanel noted he was “extremely proud” of what Evercore has achieved since he founded the business with Nigel Dawn in 2013, according to a memo obtained by Secondaries Investor.

5. Greenhill Cogent’s Bill Murphy loosens grip on the reins

Murphy, a 14-year veteran of the firm and senior member of its capital advisory group responsible for coverage and execution of secondaries deals, transitioned to a senior advisor role in October. Having joined what was then Cogent Partners in 2003, Murphy will maintain his existing client relationships and be less involved in the day-to-day management of the New York office.

Other notable stories included:

• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board‘s Giorgio Riva, a key member of its secondaries team, joined preferred equity specialist Whitehorse Liquidity Partners in September.
• Nishant Bayaka and Sameer Shamsi, both managing directors, left Evercore in October and March, respectively. Bayaka was understood to be joining a Chicago-based real estate private equity firm; Shamsi’s next move was unclear as of early December.
• Cebile Capital hired UBS’s Steven Westerback in December as president and head of the Americas to lead its first North American office.