Private Equity Professionals

Industry Funds Management makes three senior hires

The Melbourne-headquartered firm expands New York investment team to support investment plans in the US.

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Infrastructure investment manager Industry Funds Management has hired Alec Montgomery and Michael Thompson as executive directors of its US operations. It has also appointed Mauricio Melzi as senior investment director.

Montgomery and Thompson are responsible for assisting the management of the firm’s New York investment operations. All three are based in New York, which brings IFM’s New York investment team to five.

The expansion of the firm’s New York investment team reflects IFM’s strategy to continue to invest in high-quality infrastructure assets in the US, said Dunia Wright, head of US and Europe for IFM, in a statement.

Montgomery joins from Royal Bank of Scotland, where he was managing director and head of infrastructure finance. He has held senior positions with various banks including Credit Agricole Indosuez and Deutsche Banc Alex Brown in New York, and Union Bank of Switzerland in New York and Zurich.

Thompson was previously IFM’s executive director for infrastructure in Melbourne. Before IFM, he was at the corporate advisory arm of financial services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers where he was director and head of energy mergers and acquisitions. Prior to that, Thompson was at Australian bank Westpac Banking Corporation where he was director in the Specialised Capital Group. Thompson has also worked in financial services companies Citigroup and Merrill Lynch in positions related to infrastructure investment.

Melzi joins from Merrill Lynch where he was a director of the Corporate Finance Energy Commodities Group in New York. He was previously the director of Commodity Structuring at Merrill Lynch Commodities in Houston and a senior commercial associate with energy company Entergy Wholesale Operations.

IFM manages private investment products across infrastructure, private equity, debt investments and listed equity portfolios. It has invested in infrastructure assets since 1995 and has completed 47 transactions to date, with approximately 5.9 billion invested in the sector.

IFM is owned by Industry Super Holdings, the holding company for Members Equity group of company. Industry Super Holdings is in turn owned by 37 Australian superannuation funds, which are also IFM’s clients.