Littlejohn appoints new principal

Littlejohn & Co. has named Jordan Tongalsen as principal and head of business development as it seeks to ramp up its transaction sourcing activities.

Formerly an executive director in Morgan Stanley’s global industrials group where he led its building products and industrial-related investment banking coverage efforts, Tongalsen’s has been tapped to “open new avenues to deploy capital” for the Greenwich private equity group, the firm said.

Tongalsen’s hire comes almost a year and half after the fund manager closed its fifth fund on its $2 billion hard-cap, with fundraising assistance from Park Hill Group. It makes investments of $50-150 million in buyouts, special situations or investments in financially-troubled companies, and corporate carve outs of North American businesses with annual revenues from $100-800 million.

Last month, Littlejohn completed the sale of Henniges Automotive to China’s Aviation Industry for a reported $600 million after it had owned the Michigan automotive product manufacturing company. One month earlier, the firm had another realisation with its sale of New York swimming pool products supplier Latham to Illinois’ Wynnchurch Capital.

Before joining Morgan Stanley in 2011, Tongalson was a vice president at Blackstone where he focused on M&A, restructuring and private equity transactions across a variety of industries, and joined in 2006 after stints at JP Morgan and Siemens.