CVC Capital to lose chairman after 30 years
CVC CAPITAL Partners veteran Michael Smith will step down as chairman in January 2013 and hand the reins to a trio of dealmakers whose first job will be to raise €10bn (£8.06bn) from investors.
Smith, who has spent 30 years at CVC from its origins as Citicorp Venture Capital – a subsidiary of Citigroup – will be succeeded by Donald Mackenzie, Rolly van Rappard and Steve Koltes as co-chairmen.
“CVC has always been run as a partnership, making important decisions by consensus,” Mackenzie said in a press release, in a sign that the succession was unlikely to spark a big shift in the buy-out house’s strategy.
CVC this year sold a 10 per cent stake to three sovereign wealth funds: the Kuwait Investment Authority, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, a person familiar with the matter has said.
The three men have worked at CVC – which has investments in Formula One and Merlin Entertainment – for more than 20 years.