Mozaic appoints primary fundraiser to director

Boston-based secondaries specialist Mozaic Capital Advisors has made the latest move in a frothy hiring market among secondaries advisories.

The firm has hired Myra Choo as director by way of MVision Private Equity Advisors, which currently supports a slew of asset classes, secondaries not among them, according to its website.

There, Choo led the San Francisco office with a responsibility for West Coast investor relations, advising on over $2.5 billion of fundraisings.

“Mozaic provides a full suite of secondary-focused services for general partners and limited partners,” co-founders Christine Patrinos and Solomon Owayda said in a statement. “With her wealth of private markets experience, we are confident Myra will prove to be a valuable member of the Mozaic Capital team.”

The two co-founders in June examined the emergence of secondaries as an all-market resource during covid-19, and the sunny prospects of GP-led deals in a post-pandemic landscape.

Choo previously worked as an investor relations professional at Thomas H Lee Partners, where she focused on Asia-based relationships. She began her career in Harbourvest Partners’ primary partnership group, where she worked with Patrinos as an investment professional.

The firm’s hiring from the more mature primary markets comes as fierce competition for talent among secondaries advisories reaches new heights.

The backdrop for this struggle is contracted volumes and bullish expectations. Last year saw just over $60 billion in secondaries, according to Setter Capital’s latest volume report, off nearly 30 percent from 2019 amid pandemic uncertainty. At the same time, Whitehorse Liquidity Partners’ Yann Robard predicted $1 trillion of volume by 2030 as recently as April.

Most recently, PJT Partners hired a former Credit Suisse secondaries advisory head, while Jefferies poached Guggenheim Securities’ advisory team this month, Secondaries Investor reported.

Meanwhile, in January, Rothschild & Co snagged two PJT directors to start a secondaries advisory platform. Tradition acquired members of Duff & Phelps’ secondaries advisory team in September.