IFC hires ex-Lehman pro as CAO for new PE arm

IFC Asset Management Company (IFC AMC), the private equity arm of the International Finance Corporation, has hired Ruth Horowitz as its chief administrative officer. Horowitz was formerly a managing director and chief administrative officer for Lehman Brothers’ private equity arm.

IFC AMC was set up in January to “mobilise capital to address the effects of the global financial crisis and serve longer-term development needs around the world”. The management company is wholly owned by the IFC, but manages third-party capital. In May, IFC AMC set up its first fund, the $3 billion IFC Recapitalisation Fund, to make subordinated loans and equity or equity-linked investments in systemically important emerging market banks.

Horowitz will provide strategic direction for the new management company, as well as look for synergies between IFC AMC funds and IFC’s existing departments. She will also manage the company’s infrastructure and back office functions.

She is the third professional that the IFC has appointed to the new venture’s management team. Chief executive officer Gavin Wilson and IFC Recapitalisation Fund head Marcos Brujis both joined the company on 1 July 2009.

At Lehman, Horowitz was also a member of the firm’s funds of funds investment committee. Before, she was a senior vice president in investment banking working on strategy and business planning, a senior vice president and chief administrative officer in Lehman's equity research department and a vice president of its equity capital markets and debt capital markets department.