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by Baz Hiralal
BlackRock Inc. made three additions to its senior ranks.
Philipp Hildebrand, who resigned as head of the Swiss central bank in January following a currency trading controversy, joined BlackRock as a vice chairman in London, overseeing its largest institutional client relationships in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. He will report to chairman and CEO Laurence Fink, and become a member of the firm's global executive committee, as well as its EMEA and Asia-Pacific executives committees.
Hildebrand was most recently chairman of the Swiss National Bank, where he was a member since 2003. He was named chairman in 2010, but left in January after it was revealed that his wife Kaysha, a former hedge fund trader, bought U.S. dollars three weeks before the SNB capped the appreciating Swiss franc. Both the SNB and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP cleared Hildebrand of improper behavior.
Prior to joining the SNB, Hildebrand worked at Union Bancaire Privée in Geneva from 2001 to 2003, where he was chief investment officer and a member of the executive board. Previously, Hildebrand was CIO of Vontobel Group in Zurich and a partner at Moore Capital Management, where he worked in London and New York. He began his professional career in 1994 at the World Economic Forum. He was chairman of the deputies of the Group of Ten from 2006 to 2007 and has been a member of the Group of Thirty since 2008.
In Australia, BlackRock appointed Andrew Landman as head of alternatives. Landman is CEO of Ascalon Capital, a subsidiary of BT Financial Group. He is also BT Group's head of investment strategy. Joseph Pacini, head of BlackRock's alternatives business in Asia excluding Japan, will lead the Australian alternatives business until Landman starts.
In addition, Sherry Rexroad joined as chief investment officer for BlackRock's new global real estate securities platform. Most recently, she was senior portfolio manager of REITs-Americas for Aviva Investors' global listed real estate securities team. Previously, Rexroad was a managing director and portfolio manager with ING Clarion Real Estate Securities. Prior to that, she worked for AEW Capital Management, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the General Services Administration.
Claudio Boada joined Blackstone Group LP's global private equity and real estate teams as a senior adviser. He was a nonexecutive chairman of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in the Iberian region, originating investments in investment banking, private banking and private equity. He was previously a managing director and member of the European investment banking committee, responsible for the Spanish and Portuguese business. He was also chairman of Circulo de Empresarios for eight years.
Boada is chairman of Abantia Ticsa SA, Atlas Capital and Holcim España SA. He is a member of the European advisory board of HSBC plc and senior adviser to HSBC in Spain and Portugal.
Fundamental Advisors LP, focused on special situations in the municipal debt market, launched Fundamental Credit Opportunities and hired Hector Negroni as FCO's co-chief executive and chief investment officer. Negroni was a managing director overseeing municipal capital commitments, flow and proprietary trading, money markets, collateralized lending and issuer derivatives at Goldman, Sachs & Co., which he joined in 2005. Negroni also worked at Société Générale SA, Lazard and Citigroup Inc.
Fundamental Advisors was formed in July 2007 by Laurence Gottlieb, former co-head of Citi 's municipal distressed and special situations proprietary trading desk, and Dana Fusaris, who led Madison Capital Management LLC's distressed and defaulted municipal bond effort.
Mesirow Advanced Strategies Inc. hired Matthew Strube as a senior vice president and head of portfolio research, a new role. Strube was a director for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, managing hedge fund strategy, due diligence and portfolio construction. Before that, he worked at USA Trading, ARZ Trading and SMC Option Management LLC.
Corporate partner Daniel Raglan joined Kelley Drye & Warren LLP in New York, covering capital markets, mergers and acquisitions and corporate advisory matters. He was a partner at Torys LLP.
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP recently tapped Stephen Davis in Houston as a partner in its energy and global transactions practice. Previously, Davis was a partner in the Houston office of Vinson & Elkins LLP, where he was a founding member of its worldwide project finance and development practice and former managing partner of its first Asian office.
Clippings from the next column:
-- Lazard elects Richard D. Parsons to the firm's board of directors.
-- Guggenheim Partners LLC launches restructuring practice, adds Ronen Bojmel as senior managing director and head of restructuring.
-- Deutsche Bank AG names Carl Wegner as head of global transaction banking for Greater China.
-- iCON Infrastructure, an independent investment firm, hires Deutsche Bank AG's Iain Macleod as a partner.
-- Renaissance Capital hires four managing directors for its equity products group: Irena Radman, Rupert Hope, Aleksander Diklich and Maria Shatalina.
-- Alternative investment manager International Standard Asset Management taps Darren Upton as head of research and a director.
-- 3i Debt Management hires Credit Suisse Group's Andrew Bellis as managing director and partner.
-- Fund manager North of South Capital LLP makes Mark Watson marketing director.
-- More former Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP partners land at: Patton Boggs LLP; Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP; and King & Wood Mallesons.
Corporate partner Daniel Raglan joined Kelley Drye & Warren LLP in New York, covering capital markets, mergers and acquisitions and corporate advisory matters.
