Private Equity Professionals

Another MD departs Terra Firma – exclusive

Following the departure of credit focused Peter Miholich late last year, another senior investment professional left the firm in April.

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Jyrki Lee Korhonen, managing director responsible for investments in the Nordic region, has left Terra Firma, Private Equity International has learned.

His next moves are not known.

Korhonen joined Terra Firma in April 2016, after 12 years at northern European private equity firm Triton, where he focused on deals across sectors in Scandinavia. He was one of three MD hires made by Terra Firma that month charged with sourcing, executing and managing investments, PEI reported at the time. Of the others, former First Reserve dealmaker Alex Williams left the firm in April, while secondaries-focused Michele Russo remains in place.

Terra Firma has undergone significant changes in recent years. In September 2015 Justin King, former CEO of supermarket group Sainsbury, joined Terra Firma as vice-chairman and head of portfolio businesses. Latterly the firm has started to broaden its focus from traditional private equity to include direct secondaries and direct lending.

To this end the firm founded its Support Capital business unit, to provide finance to private equity-owned businesses that do not have the financial headroom to finance their growth plans, and brought in a former managing director of Nomura responsible for principal credit business in EMEA, Peter Miholich, to manage it. Miholich left the firm in late 2016, according to reports from Bloomberg. The Support Capital Fund has undergone a review due to fears that its deals were too risky relative to its return target of 20 percent, Bloomberg reported. On 10 May Terra Firma announced its first transaction from the SCF, in artificial turf and synthetic floor manufacturer SportGroup, which is owned by Equistone Partners Europe. 

In March 2016 chief executive Tim Pryce stepped down and was replaced by Andrew Geczy, a veteran of Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Lloyds Banking Group and Citigroup. In August Julie Williamson left after 20 years with the firm.

Another managing director, Andrew Miller, formerly chief executive of Guardian Media Group, was hired in November.

A spokeswoman for Terra Firma declined to comment on Korhonen’s departure beyond confirming it.