Helix’s Barber to join Bridgepoint in 2007

John Barber, after 10 years at private equity placement agent Helix Associates, is to join Bridgepoint, a European mid-market buyout firm, in early 2007 as a partner.
 
At Bridgepoint, Barber will lead the London-based firm’s investor services team following the retirement of Graham Dewhirst, who has been with Bridgepoint since 1988. He will also serve on Bridgepoint’s operating and investment committees.
 

Barber: joining Bridgepoint in February 2007

Barber is leaving Helix, where he was a managing director, at the end of November and is set to start at Bridgepoint in February. He joined Helix Associates in 1997 and has worked on a number of private equity fundraisings, including Bridgepoint Europe III, which closed on €2.5 billion ($3.2 billion) in May 2005. Helix was acquired by US investment bank Jefferies in May 2005.
 
A source familiar with the appointment said Barber knew the firm “warts and all” after doing intensive due diligence for the fundraising.
 
Before Helix, Barber worked at WSGP Partners, a US private equity firm established by former US Treasury Secretary William Simon in Los Angeles, and at Morgan Stanley in New York, London and Sydney. He also co-founded Yucatan Foods, a Californian speciality food company, and is a member of the investor relations committee of the European Venture Capital Association.
 
Barber’s departure follows that of Laurence Zage, who left the role of vice president and head of research at Helix in July to join rival placement agent Monument Group as head of director of its UK operations.