Spring Bridge taps Coller for director and hires CFO

Spring Bridge Partners, a New York-based secondaries firm formed by two ex-Coller Capital partners, has made two senior hires.

Raudel Yanez joined as a director on 14 January, managing partner Sebastien Burdel confirmed to Secondaries Investor. Yanez spent four years as an investment manager at Coller, having previously worked as an associate in the M&A team at Morgan Stanley.

The firm has also hired David Cohen as chief financial officer and chief compliance officer. Cohen held the roles of CFO, COO and chief compliance officer during his 11 years at Precision Capital Advisors, a buyout and fund of funds firm.

Spring Bridge intends to hire several additional staff at vice-president or director level over the next few months, Burdel said.

In November the firm hired Anwer Farooqui, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s former secondaries head, as a senior advisor.

Burdel and another former Coller partner Luca Salvato launched Spring Bridge in 2017, as Secondaries Investor reported. The firm focuses on four deal types: GP-led transactions; spin-outs; structured deals involving loans, preferred debt or preferred equity; and liquidity to GPs, according to its website.

Last summer the firm closed its debut deal, backing the spin-out of Wafra Partners, the direct equity investment division of Wafra Investment Advisory Group. Wafra’s investment management team became Granite Bridge Partners.

Spring Bridge backed that deal using independently raised capital, not via a blind-pool fund, Secondaries Investor reported at the time.

It is understood that Spring Bridge has no current plans to raise a fund.

Burdel declined to comment on fundraising.