Exclusive: Equistone hires IR exec from HgCapital

Equistone Partners Europe, a pan-European firm, has hired Michael Hachar as an investor relations manager, PEI has learnt.

Hachar joined Equistone from HgCapital in July, an Equistone spokesperson confirmed. He is based in London where he works with Christiian Marriott, partner responsible for fundraising and investor relations.

“Equistone prides itself on a first class level of communication with its investors and Michael will play a key role in helping us deliver this as the business continues to go from strength to strength,” an Equistone spokesperson told Private Equity International.

At Hg, Hachar’s responsibilities included fundraising, due diligence, and investor overage. Prior to Hg, Michael worked on the investor relations and fundraising team at Cinven in London and in the private fund placement team at Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment bank in Paris. Hachar has a Masters in finance from EDHEC Business School in France and a degree in economics from Southern Methodist University in Texas.

The appointment comes as Equistone is likely to raise another fund next year. It is understood the firm recently hired Lazard to support them with the fundraising. The exact target of the fund is unknown. Equistone declined to comment on fundraising.

However, the firm is currently still investing its Fund IV, a £1.5 billion, 2011-vintage. In July, Equistone backed Concept Life Sciences, a newly formed international scientific laboratory and consultancy business, in a $100 million deal.

In April, the firm bought a majority stake in Finaxy Group, a French insurance broker. Following this deal, Equistone’s Fund IV was approximately 55 percent deployed, a source familiar with the matter said at the time.

The firm has also secured a number of exits so far this year: in July, it sold PD&MS Energy, a specialist provider of engineering, procurement and construction services for the oil and gas industry, to UK-based Inflexion Private Equity netting the firm a 2.9x return. In April, Equistone also agreed to sell French hospital group Médi-Partenaires – which it jointly owned with LBO France, to UK-based Bridgepoint. In February, Equistone sold its stake in APEM, a global manufacturer of industrial switches and joysticks to ICG.