BerchWood Partners Adds Seasoned Private Equity Professional in London

New York and London – BerchWood Partners, a leading global private equity placement agent, has announced the addition of Former Bridgepoint Director James Wakefield as a Senior Advisor. He will be based in the London office with Alexander Apponyi but will work closely with the entire ten-member team. James will focus primarily on European, Middle Eastern and African fund managers and investors, using his extensive industry expertise to further develop and strengthen BerchWood's presence in these key markets.

James is a private equity professional with significant fundraising, origination, deal execution and portfolio management experience, having worked with one of the largest players in the industry for almost 20 years. James joined Bridgepoint Capital Ltd (formerly NatWest Equity Partners) in 1989 and was appointed a Director of the firm in 1997. Most recently, he was Director of fund-raising/investor relations with responsibility for over €8 billion of funds under management from third-party investors. In this role he was also instrumental to the completion of the US$1 billion secondary sale of NatWest's private equity interests to a syndicate of investors. Prior to Bridgepoint, he was a member of the structured finance team providing debt for MBO's, MBI's and acquisitions at County Bank Ltd. In 2006, he attended the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.

"We are excited to welcome such an experienced private equity professional as James to further extend our presence in key markets," said Dave Berchenbriter, Managing Partner of BerchWood, who is based in New York, but has worked with European private equity managers and investors for over a decade.

"James' expertise and experience will help BerchWood and our clients immeasurably, as we continue to build a premier platform designed to maximize the success of each of our client mandates," said Alexander Apponyi, who joined the BerchWood team three years ago to head up the London office.

James said, "I am delighted to have joined BerchWood Partners due to its expanding market presence and its rigorous screening process, whereby it deliberately only takes on a select few high quality mandates each year."

"The addition of James Wakefield will further enhance our investor relationships, as well as our ability to intensively and efficiently complete each client assignment," said George Gaines, a senior partner of BerchWood, who leads the firms' origination efforts.

BerchWood looks forward to further expansion plans, including the hiring of additional investment professionals in London and New York, as well as establishing an office in Asia.

About BerchWood Partners

Founded in 2000 by David W. Berchenbriter and Charles K. Woodworth, BerchWood Partners is a global private equity placement agent with offices in New York, London, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. BerchWood's professionals have raised funds valued at over US$20 billion from investors around the world for North American, European, Asian and Middle Eastern fund managers focused primarily on buyout, venture and secondary strategies. The firm's success is predicated on fund selectivity, full-team involvement and long-term relationships with the most active private equity investors from around the world. The firm has an outstanding reputation with investors for originating high-quality assignments, which in turn provides its clients with better access to institutional capital.

For more information on BerchWood Partners go to www.berchwoodpartners.com.

Contact:
Charles Woodworth
+1 781 893 6436
ckw@berchwoodpartners.com

Alexander Apponyi
+44 207 499 9917
amaa@berchwoodpartners.com