GSAM grows European FoF team

Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) has announced that it has appointed Clive Norton, a former Merrill Lynch placement agent team member, as it grows its private equity funds of funds operation in Europe.

GSAM has been keen to increase its presence in Europe, having sent over John Shearburn from New York last Christmas to lead the private equity investment team alongside Marc Boheim. It has been targeting both the FoF and secondary fund markets as areas where it can win significant business from European investors.

Norton worked in Merrills’ placement group, headed by Kevin Albert, which has seen a number of departures in the past 12 months. In part as a response to the reduced number of funds being raised at present, Merrills looked to reduce the size of its team. Norton was a managing director with particular responsibility for covering Europe and the Middle East for fund clients, a position formerly held by Mounir Guen who left the team in 2001 to launch his own fund advisory firm, MVision.