PAI principal departs for Antin

Paris-based PAI Partners has lost Alex Kesseler, a principal in its portfolio performance group.

Kesseler, who spent seven years at PAI, has joined Antin Infrastructure Partners, a London and Paris-based fund manager, as a performance improvement principal. He started his new role at the beginning of this week, according to an Antin statement.

Prior to PAI, Kesseler was a partner at consulting firm German Roland Berger in Paris where he led the private equity group of the “operations strategy” department for six years. He was previously senior manager at A.T. Kearney, a US consulting firm, in Munich, Paris and New York.

It is unclear whether PAI will replace Kesseler. PAI declined to comment. 

His departure comes as PAI is looking to increase the hard-cap on its €3 billion Fund VI. The pan-European firm told investors in January that it is seeking to increase the vehicle, which is oversubscribed, to €3.2 billion in order to satisfy investor demand, PEI revealed at the time.

The proposed increase comes after PAI’s Fund VI reached its €3 billion hard-cap a week earlier, with the vehicle no longer officially in market. PAI is currently completing all the necessary legal paperwork ahead of an official final close, which will be held this month.

PAI typically acquires majority stakes in medium to large-sized European companies in the business services, food and consumer good, general industrials, healthcare and retail & distribution sectors. It writes equity tickets of between €100 million and €300 million.