F&C Investments hires EIF exec

F&C Investment, a division of BMO Global Asset Management, has hired David Walker as investment director F&C Private Equity Funds, according to a statement.

Walker joined from the European Investment Bank (EIB) in Luxembourg, where he was head of infrastructure funds and previously deputy head of equity funds at the European Investment Fund (EIF).

Having spent 14 years in Luxembourg with the EIB and the EIF, Walker has moved to Edinburgh, where he will join the F&C Private Equity Funds team, which consist of eight people. Reporting to team head Hamish Mair, Walker will be covering European funds, co-investments and renewables investments.

F&C Investments manages assets for a combination of insurance clients, institutional investors, intermediaries and private individuals. F&C invests across all major asset classes – equities, fixed income and property. In May 2014, F&C Asset Management plc was acquired by Bank of Montreal.

The hire comes as F&C Asset Management is still in market attempting to raise €200 million for its F&C European Capital Partners II, which held a €90 million first close in May 2013.

The fund will focus on investing in European mid-market buyout funds, which F&C defines as GPs that acquire companies with an enterprise value between €25 million and €500 million. The fund will back between 15 to 25 GPs. It will also do secondaries and co-investments, according to a separate statement on F&C’s website.

The fund has already made a number of commitments; in July 2014, F&C ECP II committed €2 million to Portobello Capital’s Fund III. It has also committed £4 million to Inflexion Private Equity’s latest UK mid-market buyout fund.