AlpInvest’s Borgdorff joins CDC board

UK-based development finance institution CDC Group has appointed Wim Borgdorff, the co-founder of AlpInvest Partners, as a non-executive director.

Michele Giddens, the founding partner of Bridges Ventures, and the vice-chairman and chief executive officer at Housing Development Finance Corporation in India, are also joining the board, according to a statement.

They join CDC following the departure of Fields Wicker-Muirin and Jeremy Sillem who have stepped down. Wicker-Muirin left CDC’s board in May 2014, while Sillem will leave in December.

The part-time positions will involve six board meetings per year, as well as a week-long board visit to one of the countries in which CDC invests for meetings with investee companies and government officials. They will also sit on selected sub-committees on remuneration, development and audit/compliance, according to a CDC spokesperson.

“CDC plays a vital role in supporting private sector development in some of the world’s poorest countries and I know that all three were attracted to the role because of our desire to make commercially successful investments with the highest possible development impact.” CDC chairman, Graham Wrigley, said in the statement.

Giddens has over 15 years of international development and social finance experience. Prior to Bridges she was the managing director of Shorebank Advisory Services, which specialised in small business and microfinance advice, primarily in emerging markets. Prior to she worked at the International Finance Corporation.

Borgdorff co-founded AlpInvest and from 2010 to 2013 was head of fund investments at the firm, which has €37 billion of investments under management. He is currently a senior advisor to the firm and a member of the investment committee. Before AlpInvest, Wim founded ABP Investments’ alternative investments unit. Prior to that, he was a managing director at ING Real Estate.

Mistry has been a pioneer in the housing finance industry over the last 25 years and has helped provide thousands of Indians with financial assistance to buy a home, CDC said.

CDC, which is the UK government-owned development finance institution, uses its own balance sheet to invest in developing countries in Africa and South Asia. It has net assets of £2.8 billion.