Russia's Alfa Capital expands team to 28

Financial News

Jason Corcoran in Moscow
16 May 2008


Russian private equity adviser Alfa Capital Partners has expanded its private equity team with the recruitment of four from Goldman Sachs, Rothschild Investment Trust, Citibank and law firm Simmons & Simmons.

The appointments were made over the past two months and take the headcount at Alfa to 28.

Alexander Bezugly joined as a managing director from Rothschild Investment Trust, where he had been head of private equity for a closed-end listed investment trust chaired by Lord Jacob Rothschild. He previously worked in mergers and acquistions and private equity in London and Moscow with Lehman Brothers and Creditanstaldt.

Pavel Alimov has been hired as an investment officer from Goldman Sachs in Moscow, where he worked for two years as analyst. Vadym Pavlus has been appointed vice-president and arrived from Citibank in London, where he worked in the financial sponsors group.

Elena Mironova joined as general counsel from Simmons & Simmons and previously worked as head of legal at metal group Mechel Steel and legal practice Baker & McKenzie, both in Moscow.

Alfa Capital Partners advises funds with more than $700m (€452m) in capital from institutional and private investors alongside capital from Alfa Group, the affiliate headed by oligarch Mikhail Fridman.

The operation acts as the joint manager of the Marbleton Property Fund, serves as the regional manager for a $180m infrastructure fund and advises Alfa’s $200m private equity fund. Recent investments include $80m invested in Yolki-Palki, a restaurant chain, and $25m in automobile dealer Nezavisimost.

The firm is part of an increasingly competitive private equity landscape in Russia.

US firm TPG Capital has earmarked $1bn to spend per year on Russian equities and completed its first deal in April, paying $800m for a 50% stake in one of Russia’s largest drug distributors, SIA Pharmaceutical.

Renaissance Group announced in March it had raised $660m for its first private equity fund. Baring Vostok, one of the longest established players on the Russian market, last year announced a $1.5bn fund, while Troika Dialog is raising money for a $1bn fund.