The secondaries market’s top five people moves of 2022

A round up of some the most noteworthy appointments from last year, as the secondaries market continued its game of recruitment musical chairs.

1Apollo hires BlackRock team

Just four years after jumping from Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Vintage team to the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock’s secondaries team were on the move again. In April, it emerged that managing directors Steve Lessar, Konnin Tam and Veena Isaac were to join Apollo Global Management. The development preceded the August launch of S3, Apollo’s sponsor and secondaries solutions business, which launched with a cornerstone commitment from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The team had total new commitments of around $4 billion upon formal launch.

2Ardian drops key execs

In March, affiliate title Secondaries Investor reported that three senior executives – Benoît Verbrugghe, Olivier Decannière and Ingmar Vallano – who were part of Ardian’s key person group for its previous flagship secondaries programme were not part of that group for the firm’s latest secondaries fund. It also emerged that Verbrugghe, who became Ardian’s US head in 2010, was no longer a member of the firm’s executive committee and is no longer US head, and that Decannière, who is UK head, is also no longer listed as an executive committee member. Ardian UK’s strategic report, directors’ report and financial statements for 2021 show that Decannière and Vallano resigned in 2021 and that Verbrugghe resigned on 1 January 2022.

The firm is seeking $15 billion for its ASF IX secondaries fund and is planning to close the vehicle in the second quarter of 2023, documents prepared for the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System show.

3ICG loses US co-head, changes role for global head

In 2022, ICG’s Strategic Equity team raised the largest pool of capital for GP-led deals. It also bid farewell to North America co-head Christophe Browne and saw global head Andrew Hawkins become vice-chairman. Ricardo Lombardi now leads the group globally, with Andrea Serra from Blackstone’s tactical opportunities group as head of Europe, and Rob Campbell as sole North America head.

4Baird taps Goldman’s Mejia and Credit Suisse’s Duksin as co-heads

Alex Mejia, then head of secondaries advisory at Goldman Sachs, joined mid-market investment bank Baird in December, with Jeremy Duksin, also an MD and senior member of Credit Suisse’s private fund group, following suit and set to join in early 2023. The pair will co-lead the bank’s GP-led-focused business.

5William Blair hires Custar, Stuiver

Mike Custar, a once veteran of Credit Suisse’s private fund group who left to launch M2O’s secondaries business in 2017, jumped to William Blair in April. He was followed by LP portfolio specialist Jake Stuiver, who joined the investment bank in September.