Harvest promotes five execs(3)

Harvest Partners, a New York-based private equity firm that specialises in management buyouts and growth financings of middle-market companies, today announced the promotions of five senior executives. Michael Cardito, Richard Moreau, Andrew Schoenthal, and Christopher Whalen have been promoted to principal from vice president. Debra Kravetz will add the title of senior vice president while retaining her position as chief financial officer.

Cardito has been with Harvest since 2005, before which he worked with Nautic Partners, a Providence, Rhode Island-based private equity firm, as well as Ticonderoga Capital and The Beacon Group. Moreau joined Harvest in 2000, after having worked at First Dominion Capital and BT Alex Brown. Schoenthal came to Harvest in 2005 from Charlesbank Capital Partners. Prior to that, he worked at JH Whitney & Co. and Morgan Stanley. Whalen was a part of the global mergers and acquisitions group of Lehman Brothers before coming to Harvest in 1999. Kravetz was the senior accountant at Schroders in New York and Singapore before she began working at Harvest in 1998. Before Schroders, Kravetz worked at Coopers & Lybrand.

Harvest Partners closed its latest, middle market-focused fund this month on $815 million (€605 million), bringing the firm’s total capital under management to about $1.7 billion. The fund’s investment strategy involves management buyouts, recaps and growth financings for industrial, business services and consumer/retail companies.

The close of the fund and the new promotions coincide with the completion of an ownership transfer announced last year. Senior managing directors Thomas Arenz, Stephen Eisenstein and Ira Kleinman assumed ownership of the firm upon the departure of the firm’s founders.