ICYMI – Deutsche and Sidley Austin appoint new staff

Wim De Vlieger and Till Lefranc are joining Sidley Austin’s London office as private equity partners from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. The hires bring Sidley’s private equity partner headcount to 25 across its London and Munich offices.

Deutsche Asset Management has hired Mark McDonald as head of private equity secondaries, based in London. He previously held the same title at Credit Suisse where he was also a senior member of the screening committee for the firm’s private equity group.

Jesper Steiness has joined private equity investment data manager Framework as director of global business development. He was previously at SS&C Advent.

SoftBank has hired Paul Davison and Lucio Di Ciaccio as investment advisors in the London office. Davison joins from investment bank Rothschild where he was an associate, while Di Ciaccio was previously in Carlyle’s special situations team.

Ardenton Capital has hired Charles Omonua as business development manager. He previously worked at Charlemagne Capital for 10 years, where he marketed long-only and hedge funds, and at Coutts as a fund researcher.

Markus Stephanblome has joined Clifford Chance’s Frankfurt office where he will focus on public takeovers, private M&A and private equity. He joins from White & Case, where he was made partner in January 2017.

Executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles has named Anny Kwok as partner in Hong Kong, where she will focus on private equity and alternative assets clients. She previously helped build the Asia private equity business of another recruitment firm.