Whitehorse Liquidity partner Leah Boyd to leave; firm creates role of COO

The preferred equity specialist has grown rapidly since its formation in 2015.

Whitehorse Liquidity Partners has some changes ahead of the expected final close on its fifth fund this summer.

Leah Boyd, a partner and general counsel of the firm, is leaving, sources told affiliate title Buyouts. Boyd had worked at Whitehorse since 2019 and helped build up the legal, tax and compliance infrastructure, sources said. Before, she worked at Goodmans for more than 10 years, according to her LinkedIn profile.

It is not clear why Boyd is leaving; sources said she was leaving to pursue other interests. Boyd did not respond to a LinkedIn request when contacted by Buyouts. Whitehorse Liquidity promoted her to partner in 2020, expanding its partnership group, which includes founder and managing partner Yann Robard, Buyouts reported at the time.

Matthew Kuchinsky, who joined the firm in 2020, has been promoted to general counsel. Kuchinsky was the second hire on Whitehorse’s legal team, sources said. He previously worked at Manulife focusing on private investment deals for US and Canadian businesses, his profile said.

Also, the firm has promoted Derek Miners to the newly created role of chief operating officer, sources said. Miners, who joined the firm in 2019, also was made a partner, they said. Miners joined Whitehorse from CPP Investments, where he worked for more than a decade, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He joined Whitehorse to lead the firm’s active portfolio management at the time, Buyouts noted.

Whitehorse Liquidity has grown rapidly since its formation in 2015. It has been raising its fifth flagship fund targeting $5 billion, which is expected to close this summer, sources said. Whitehorse has at least 148 employees and raised more than $12.5 billion in commitments, according to a statement this year. It has deployed more than $17 billion across 190 transactions.

The firm focuses on several liquidity strategies, including acquiring portfolios and splitting them into preferred and common equity tranches, syndicating the common equity; preferred equity for LPs; fund-level liquidity for GPs to support portfolio companies and liquidity for GP management companies, Secondaries Investor reported last year.

This article first appeared on affiliate title Buyouts

Read our 2020 profile, How Whitehorse became the most envied firm in secondaries, here.