HarbourVest’s European and EM fund investing head steps down

HarbourVest Partners‘ European and emerging market head of fund investments is leaving that role within the firm.

Kathleen Bacon, who joined the firm’s London office in 1994, moved from managing director into a senior advisory position on 30 June, she said in an email received by Private Equity International.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my 25 years in the industry working at HarbourVest and meeting and working with so many talented people,” Bacon wrote, noting that her change in roles was a personal decision.

Carolina Espinal has taken over as head of the European primary partnerships investment team. She formally took on Bacon’s investment committee role in March, a spokesman for HarbourVest confirmed.

Managing director in the secondaries team David Atterbury took over leadership of the London office at the end of June.

HarbourVest is in market with flagship fund of funds HarbourVest Partners XI, which has raised $640 million of an undisclosed target, according to PEI data. In March last year the firm held a $1.7 billion final close on HIPEP VIII Partnership, which targets fund investments, secondaries and co-investments in Europe, Asia and other emerging markets.

In October PEI reported that the firm was opening a Dublin office in response to the UK’s impending exit from the EU. Peter Wilson, one of two members of the firm’s executive management committee, moves between the Dublin and London offices, according to the firm’s website.