Market Insight - March 2026

We discovered gold in that thar database!

JMES were recently mandated to assist a client on a really interesting, non-typical but strategically important piece of work. Without going in too much detail as to the “why” (confidential), let’s focus on the outcome and the highly valuable vein of investment talent we uncovered.

The mandate was to identify super experienced, seasoned, well regarded Private Equity investors whom were no longer MDs/Partners of existing funds and as such might have the bandwidth and interest to take on additional project/consulting style work. Having mined the comprehensive database at JMES and reviewed the findings, we and the client were excited to discover such a rich pool of talent available, that when contacted was certainly up for something interesting to get stuck into.

Most if not all had successfully completed the PE Holy Trinity (raised, deployed and returned capital to investors) through successfully growing and/or turning businesses around. So having been on that journey and secured such a badge of honour, they obviously bring with them a highly valuable bank of experience for others to tap into.

So here’s an invitation to any Fund (Private or Public markets, GP or LP), Family Office, Private or Public company, government body, the list goes on, that think you could benefit from accessing such a valuable resource - to get in touch with us here at JMES to learn more about this vein of investment gold we have uncovered and are keen to share with you. (jmichel@jmes.com.au).

“Movers & Shakers”

BANKING & MARKETS

Investment Banking / Advisory

·         Citi has appointed Anders Svensson as Head of Natural Resources. Anders leaves his post with Morgan Stanley.

·         Angus Buckley previously with E&P Financial Group, has been appointed as Managing Director and Head of Australia Technology with RBCCM.

·         Matthew Haworth has been appointed as Head of Technology, Media & Services, Australia with Nomura. Matthew was previously Executive Director with JP Morgan.

·         David Gillies has joined UBS as Investment Banking Director. David was previously with Macquarie Group in New York.

·         Warwick Stephens most recently Managing Director, Capital Advisory with Grant Samuel, has been appointed as Partner, Debt Advisory with Sturt Capital.

·         Quyen Do has joined E&P Financial Group in Melbourne & Jesse Tang has joined the firm in Sydney, both as Investment Banking Analysts. Quyen joins from Planum Partners & Jesse joins from Northington Partners New Zealand.

·         Christina Stavroulakis from EY, has joined Record Point as an Investment Banking Analyst.

·         Bryce Harrison & Jess Smith have joined Grant Samuel as Analysts. Bryce joins from TCA Partners & Jess joins from PwC.

·         Jarden has appointed Adam Reid from Gresham Advisory Partners as Managing Director & Head of Resources. Joining Adam in the resources team also from Gresham are Clarence Fok as Director, Kevin Tian as Vice President & Samuel Potts as Analyst. Genevieve Perrignon (ex E&P Financial Group) & Emily Goodwin (ex 333 Capital) have also joined the firm as Investment Banking Associates.

·         Paige Perry previously with PwC as Manager, M&A has joined Cannon Capital, a mid-market advisory firm recently founded by ex-PwC Partners.

·         Igor Neshcherov who was an Investment Associate with ACTA Capital, has joined VCF Capital Partners as Senior Associate, Corporate Advisory.

·         Vincent Nguyen has joined Jefferies Melbourne as an Investment Banking Associate from Flagstaff Partners.

·         Gauthier Merlin joins RBCCM’s ECM team as an Investment Banking Associate from Shaw & Partners.

·         Harry Bahr is joining Barrenjoey’s Melbourne infrastructure team from Nash Advisory where he was a Senior Analyst.

·         Eric Su & Alex Ridley have joined JP Morgan as Investment Banking Analysts from Bank of America & Argonaut Limited respectively.  

·         Wilson Kearns, ex VCF Capital Partners, has joined Miles Advisory Partners as an Investment Banking Analyst.

·         Sankalp Chopra, ex PwC, has joined Greenhill Australia’s Melbourne office as an Investment Banking Analyst.  

Corporate Banking / Debt Products / Risk Management

·         Emma Sacre of the RBA has been appointed as Head of Transaction Banking, Oceania and Head of Financial Institutions Cash Sales for Asia Pacific with MUFG. Michael Hobby of Bank of America has been appointed as Head of Leveraged Capital Markets APAC with MUFG. Fred Kemp, ex SMBC has joined MUFG’s DCM team as an Associate.

·         Matt Ingram has joined GCI Funds as Director of Origination. He has prior experience with Thorn Group & Investec.

·         Scott Young of Commonwealth Bank, has been appointed to the role of Head of Technology, Media, Telecommunications & Health with ING.

·         Sylvia Preda has been appointed to the role of Head of Financial Sponsors & FI Coverage with Societe Generale. Sylvia was previously Head of Funds & Sponsor Client Coverage, ANZ with the Commonwealth Bank.

·         Charles Perrignon who was Head of Private Debt Markets with the Commonwealth Bank, has been appointed to the role of Head of Mining & Critical Resources with Westpac.

·         Frank Van Rooyen previously with Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, has joined Export Finance Australia as General Manager, Institutional Domestic.

·         Nick McCreery has joined FC Capital as a Director from Hua Nan Commercial Bank.

·         Meg Weeks previously with Westpac in the DCM & Syndicate team, has joined Natixis as Director, Alternative Credit & Securitisation.

·         Darren Fung, ex SMBC has joined Commonwealth Bank as a Director in the private equity & acquisition financing group.

·         Brenton Smith of ANZ, has joined Mizuho Securities as Director, Debt Syndicate.

·         Phil Robinson, ex Citi Natural Resources Sector Sales Head for Asia, has joined Visa as Senior Director, Client Engagement.

·         David Roux, ex ANZ has joined HSBC as Director, Client Coverage ICG (FIG). Tom Veitch has also joined the Bank’s leveraged finance team from KPMG where he was a Manager.

·         Ashley Wang, ex SMBC, has joined Rabobank as Director, Capital Structuring &Advisory (CS&A) and Syndication. Tim Alison has also joined the bank as Director, Project Finance. Tim was most recently with Siemens.

·         Dane Harris has joined Citi as Vice President, Debt Syndicate. Dane has prior experience with the Commonwealth Bank as Director, FICC.

·         Jeslyn Loo previously with the Commonwealth Bank has joined SMBC Nikko as Vice President, Debt Syndicate.

·         Jack Pobjoy previously with BondAdviser as Director, will be joining Nomura as Vice President, DCM in April.

·         Mark Schmaman who was Director with RBCCM, has joined Barrenjoey Capital Partners as Principal, DCM & Financing Debt Advisory. Geethu George (ex SMBC) & Eva Campbell (ex Westpac) have joined the firm as Principals, Corporate Finance.

·         Christopher Macolino most recently with SMBC, has joined ANZ Bank as Associate Director, Public Sector in Adelaide.

·         Raj Gooptu has joined NAB’s leveraged finance team as a Senior Associate from Bank of New Zealand.

·         Bowen Zhang, ex KPMG, has joined Skye Capital Advisory as an Analyst.

·         Will Johnson has joined MUFG’s leveraged finance team as an Analyst from Societe Generale.

·         Rakulan Ganesarajah has joined Nomura’s client financing solutions team as an Investment Banking Analyst from NAB’s structured finance team.

Global Markets (FICC & Equities) / Treasury

·         Nick Hutchison has been appointed to the role of Vice President, Global Market Sales with Natixis. He was previously with HSBC’s institutional sales team.

·         Adrian Janschek prior with First Sentier Investors, has joined NAB as Director, Fixed Income (Rates) Sales.

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ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS

Private Equity / Family Office / Venture Capital

·         Josh Hartz formerly Partner with Bain Capital, has been appointed as Global Head of Special Opportunities with Partners Group.

·         IFM’s private equity team has spun out into new firm Black Kite Partners. David Odgers, Adrian Kerley & Stuart Wardman-Browne are leading the firm, with Daniela Wegner & Rebecca Chen as Investments Directors, Jonathan Ramasamy as Associate Director, Scott Butchers as Senior Associate & Belinda Filippazzo-Cejas as Chief of Staff.

·         Olli Mustonen who was Group Head of Funding with QBE Insurance, is now a Partner with Ideia Partners.

·         Annabelle Mooney previously of JP Morgan, has been appointed as Partner with Admiralty Capital Group.

·         Yanni Plataniotis has joined Quadrant Private Equity’s strategic equity team as an Investment Analyst from Jefferies.

·         Andrew Coventry previously Managing Director with Armitage Associates, has joined Venn Partners as an Operating Partner.  

·         Giulia McFarlane has joined Five V Capital as their Head of ESG from Matrix London. Sam McKelvey previously Associate Director with ICG London, has joined Five V Capital’s investment team in NZ.

·         Hugh FitzSimons previously with Macquarie’s Infrastructure & Real Assets Group, has joined LVP as a Partner. Kayne Domanko previously with KordaMentha, has also joined the firm as an Investment Associate.

·         Alex Tandl has joined Alceon's Private Equity team as a Director. He was most recently an Investment Director with ROC Partners.

·         Luke Porter of The Carlyle Group, has joined Pacific Equity Partners as an Associate Director. Kurtis Albert (ex BCG) & Laura Leeson (ex McKinsey & Co) have also joined the team as Private Equity Associate & Analyst respectively.

·         Isabelle Graham has joined Seidler Equity Partners as an Investment Associate in the new year from Greenhill & Co.

·         Andrew Robertson, ex Pacific Equity Partners, has joined Coolabah Capital as an Associate in the credit research team.

·         Tom White previously with ABGF, has joined Potentia as an Investment Manager.

·         Zoe Middleton has joined Ottomin Group as an Investment Manager from Platinum Asset Management.

·         Tim Wikman has left Miles Advisory to join Athletic Ventures in Sydney.

·         Emilia Hewlett has joined Pemba Capital Partners as an Origination Associate from HgCapital London.

·         James Thomson most recently with Houlihan Lokey, has joined ABGF as an Investment Associate.

·         William Brown prior with Citi, has joined BGH Capital as an Associate.

·         Peter Sleiman, ex Advancy, has joined Crescent Capital Partners as an Investment Associate.

·         Katie Jones most recently at McKinsey & Company has joined Goldman Sachs Asset Management as Associate, Private Equity.

·         Sophie Killalea & Angus Lane have joined Potentum Partners as Investment Analysts. Sophie was previously with Citi whilst Angus was previously with Pitcher Partners.

·         Max Hazel-Harrison previously with Bank of America as an Investment Banking Analyst, has joined Roc Partners’ food & agribusiness team.

·         David Kuster previously with Crescent Capital Partners, has joined Ares’ private equity team as Vice President. Lucas Lin previously with IFM Investors, has also joined the firm as an Associate.

·         Thomas Zeylemaker has joined Whiteoak as a Portfolio Analyst from KPMG where he was a Manager in the deal advisory team.

Private Credit / Special Situations

·         Peter Robinson previously of Challenger, will be joining Barings as Senior Portfolio Manager ABF. Anthony Cormack previously with Realm Investments has also joined the team as Portfolio Manager ABF.

·         Daniel Pirrello has joined Metrics Credit Partners as an Investment Director from Stamford Capital Investments, where he was Head of Investments.

·         Julian Elburn has joined Alpha Wave as a Director. Prior he held private credit roles with KKR & Goldman Sachs. 

·         Luke Bacchus has joined Rothesay Asset Management as Associate, Structured Finance. Luke was most recently with Deutsche Bank.

·         Sohil Tangri, ex Jefferies has joined HPS Investment Partners as an Investment Associate.

·         Dhruvi Desai has joined Blackstone Group as Analyst, Asset-Backed Finance from Challenger.      

·         Nathan Brooks previously with Privatus Capital Partners, has joined GCI Funds as an Investment Analyst.

Real Assets - Infrastructure / Renewables / Energy / Real Estate

·         Jason Willoughby has been hired by Igneo Infrastructure Partners as a CEO of one of their renewable platform buildouts. Jason joins from Squadron Energy.

·         Angela Karl previously Head of Energy Transition with HMC Capital, has been appointed to the role of Managing Director with Global Infrastructure Partners.

·         Tim Horneman has been appointed as Managing Director, Australia at Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners.  He previously held senior roles with Australian energy businesses including Origin.

·         Peter Welch Senior Advisory with Bain Capital Credit, has been appointed as Senior Vice President & Head of International with The RMR Group.

·         George Koumoukelis, ex Real I.S. Group, has been appointed to the role of Head of Real Estate Investments with remara.

·         Ben Coles previously Head of Energy Transition with Jarden, has joined Wollemi as Director, Fundraising. Raphaël Mikati has joined the firm as Vice President, Investments APAC, from Macquarie’s MAM Green Investments team & Jongwoo Yim has joined as an Investment Associate from UBS.

·         Brad Hancock previously of E&P and Charter Hall, has joined Azure Capital as a Director.

·         Jose Herrero previously with Cubico Sustainable Investments, has joined North Harbour Clean Energy as Director, Project Finance.

·         Rohan Gibbs & Asher Miners have joined Housing Australia as Directors, Capital Solutions Origination. Rohan was previously with Deutsche Finance International in London & Asher was previously with KPMG.

·         Georgia Videan has joined Deutsche Bank as Vice President, Origination for the global credit trading desk. Georgia was previously with Barings.

·         Timothy O’Donnell has joined the National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) Corporation as a Senior Associate, Investments from HSBC’s leveraged finance team.

·         Aswad Artani & Radomir Jovanovic have joined Capella Capital as Analysts from Societe Generale & NAB respectively.  

·         Roger Zhang, ex KPMG, has joined Squadron Energy as an Investment Analyst.

·         Oscar Stabback has joined Warburg Pincus as Analyst, Real Estate Private Equity from Jarden.

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FUNDS MANAGEMENT

Investments & Distribution

·         Brett Jollie has been appointed as CEO of U Ethical Investors. Brett was previously CEO with Hearts & Minds Investments.

·         Luke Symons previously CEO of legalsuper has been appointed as CEO of Equip Super, he starts his role in July.  

·         Damien Webb has been appointed as CIO of Brighter Super. He joins from Aware Super UK where he was Deputy CIO.

·         Realm Investment House has opened a London office and appointed Harry Choulilitsas of Natixis to the role of Head of Europe.

·         Daniel Park has joined JANA Investment Advisors as Head of Investment Grade Debt. He previously held roles with Mercer & BT.

·         Jonathan Stagg, ex Zenith Investment Partners joins Vision Super as Head of Unlisted Investments. 

·         Brandon Roddis joins Metrics Credit Partners as a Managing Director. Prior he held senior roles with Allianz & Frontier.

·         Jack Delaforce, ex BlackRock, joins Qualitas as Director, Advised Distribution.

·         Tim Johnston, James Nguyen & Scott Hudson are set to join Bell Asset Management following the closure of Tyndall Asset Management.

·         James Westbury & Jessica Tedja have joined Aquasia as Analysts, Funds Management from Fitch Ratings & Commonwealth Bank respectively.

·         Marsel Rasic previously with Macquarie Group has joined Aware Super as a Senior Portfolio Analyst. Felix Ryan previously with ANZ Bank as an FX Strategist, has also joined Aware Super as an Investment Analyst.

·         Yannick Lecordier previously with Centric, has joined Epsilon Direct Lending as Director, Distribution.

·         Douglas Isles, ex Platinum, has joined GCQ Funds Management as an Investment Director.

·         Mozart Stephan has joined Australian Retirement Trust (ART) as Portfolio Manager, Real Estate from Mercer.

·         Anastasia Kozyreva has joined CSC as an Investment Manager from CPE Capital where she was an Associate Director.

·         Blair Ryan previously with Ellerston Capital, has joined Channel Capital as a Business Development Associate.

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CORPORATE / GOVERNMENT / C-SUITE

·         Caroline Veitch, previously CFO with Football Australia, has joined Birch & Waite as CFO.

·         Andrew Thomson who has prior experience with Bis & Pacific National, has joined Healius as CFO.  

·         Alastair Gordon, ex Karoon Energy, has joined Tilt Renewables as Head of Corporate Finance.

·         Elaine Herlihy, ex Westpac, has joined Betashares as Chief Marketing Officer.

·         Mathew Hildebrand has been appointed to the role of Strategy Manager with Birch & Waite from Grant Samuel.

·         Murtaza Kanpurwala & Henry Zhang have joined Sydney Airport as a Senior Finance Analysts from PwC & KPMG respectively.

·         Keith Mitchell has been appointed to the role of Executive General Manager, Group Treasury with Wesfarmers. Keith joins from BNP Paribas. William Tehan has also joined the Group as Manager, Business Projects. Prior he was with Coles Group as Head of Commercial Planning, Capability & Supplier Engagement.

·         Simon York previously Partner with LEK Consulting has been appointed as Head of TCorp Advisory.

·         Tim Mann has joined AirTrunk as Senior Director, Treasury Risk & Operations from EML Payments.

·         Eleanor Lau has joined Macquarie Group as a Corporate Development & Strategy Manager from Bain & Company.

·         Jordan Payne most recently with Rothschild & Co, has joined NIOA as a Corporate Development Manager.

·         Evan Luu has joined GreenSquareDC as a Senior Manager, Corporate Development from RBCCM.

·         Morris Cheng previously Investment Banking Analyst, Healthcare with Morgan Stanley, has joined I-MED Radiology Network’s corporate development team.

We are keen to hear your feedback or should you require further information, please contact us on 02 9235 9400 or nfoster@jmes.com.au

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