FIRST AVENUE BRINGS IN FORMER GOLDMAN EXEC

January 2012

Placement agent First Avenue Partners has appointed the former co-head of Goldman Sach's private equity team in Europe as senior adviser to its buyout team, as the firm continues its expansion plans aimed at becoming a global industry player.

First Avenue chief executive Paul Buckley confirmed that Clive Norton was joining the firm in a full time role, describing him as a "fantastic addition to the team."

Norton has been running his own private equity advisory business, Oxford Equity Advisors, which he founded in 2009.

Prior to founding Oxford Equity Advisors, Norton was the managing director at Helix Associates, the placement agent division of Jefferies. Before that, he was the co-head of the European private equity group at Goldman Sachs.

First Avenue Partners has grown dramatically since its launch in May 2006 winning clients including M&G Investments, Actis and Mezzvest while diversifying into providing fundraising advisory services for a range of products, including private equity, hedge funds, UCITS commodities infrastructure funds and direct corporate fundraising.

First Avenue declined to comment on its clients.

The firm acquired the majority of the placement agent team at US investment bank Madison Williams late last year with James McCarvill joining the firm as a partner and head of the new US operation. McCarvill was previously head of real asset funds at the placement agency C.P. Eaton Partners.

The acquisition of the Madison team gives First Avenue team bases in New York, Cleveland and San Francisco while allowing it to offer advisory services to infrastructure and energy funds. A full relaunch of the firms website to reflect the expansion is expected in the next month, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Written by Kiel Porter in Financial News