Private Equity Professionals

OpCapita creates investor relations role

The firm has appointed its first director of investor relations following the close of its debut fund

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OpCapita has appointed Caroline Crowley director of investor relations, a newly-created role at the UK-based turnaround firm, according to a statement.

Crowley joined OpCapita this week and will be responsible for the creation of an investor relations function as OpCapita grows its funds under management, the statement said.

Her key responsibilities will be investor relations, marketing and supporting OpCapita’s fundraising activities, and she will report to OpCapita chief executive Henry Jackson.

Crowley was previously an associate in the alternative investments group at J.P. Morgan in London. She began her careers in institutional equities sales at J.P. Morgan.

“Over the last year, OpCapita has increased its engagement with the investor community as a result of closing our first dedicated fund and, as a result, we feel the time is now right to take on a dedicated resource to establish an investor relations function,” Jackson said in the statement.

OpCapita has also appointed Javier Gonzalez as an associate. He will work on evaluating and executing new investments, as well as monitoring and implementing operational initiatives at portfolio companies. Gonzalez joins from PineBridge Investments in London, where he was an associate focusing on analysing, structuring and monitoring primary and secondary private equity investments.

In December OpCapita closed its debut fund, OpCapita Consumer Opportunities Fund, on just over £100 million (€127 million; $156 million), Private Equity International reported at the time. Amala Partners was understood to be helping OpCapita with the fundraising.

The vehicle has a two-year investment period and will be looking to make a maximum of four investments in total, PEI reported earlier.

OpCapita has already made two investments from fund. In November, the firm acquired Spanish frozen food retailer La Sirena Alimentacion Congelada in a deal thought to be worth around €30 million from existing owners. Its first investment of €20 million was made in November 2013, when the firm acquired German discount clothing retailer NKD, which operates 1,850 stores in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy.