Former BP investment head to chair debt fund

HarbourVest Partners has hired Colin Maltby to chair its newly formed listed debt investment business, HarbourVest Senior Loans Europe.

Maltby, formerly head of investments for energy major BP and an investment advisor to the British Coal Superannuation Scheme and the British Airways Pension Scheme, will fill the role of non executive independent chairman. He has been in investment management since 1975 and spent seven years as chief executive of Kleinwort Benson Investment Management.

The company, which begins trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange Wednesday, has raised £101 million (€118 million; $146 million) – narrowly exceeding its £100 million target – to invest in senior secured loans of European private equity-backed mid-market companies on both a primary and secondary basis.

In a statement on Tuesday, Maltby said he was delighted the offering had garnered institutional support “despite the uncertainty and turbulence that has returned to global financial markets in recent weeks and days”.

In a previous interview with PEO, HarbourVest managing director Alex Rogers said the offering was fundamentally “very vanilla and simple”. “We are providing loan capital alongside, in partnership – not competition – with the banks to middle-market or small-cap European business,” he said.

Collins Stewart Europe acted as sponsor and placement agent for HarbourVest Senior Loans Europe. Legal advice was provided in the UK by Herbert Smith and in Guernsey by Ozannes.