Luxembourg begins authorizing depositories

• Alter Domus, a fund administration firm, is the first service provider to be authorized by Luxembourg financial regulators to act as a depository. GPs captured by the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive must appoint an independent depository, which is responsible for safekeeping of assets, cash flow monitoring and other oversight duties such as overseeing fund compliance and transactions in relations with investors.

• Private equity and asset management firm Baird promoted Steve Booth to president, only the financial services firm’s eighth since being founded in 1919. He will continue to serve as COO and co-head of equity capital markets. Booth is expected to succeed current Baird chairman Paul Purcell in January 2016.

• Investment advisory firm Evercore hired Emmanuel Durand as managing director in its investment banking business. Based in New York, Durand will focus on providing strategic and financial advice to companies in the consumer sector. Prior to joining Evercore, Durand was head of mergers and acquisitions for the Americas at investment bank Rabobank.

• Recruitment firm CTPartners has lost technology sector leader, Dayton Ogden, to private equity firm Summit Partners. At Summit, Ogden will work with the firm’s portfolio companies and investment teams to identify and recruit senior executives and board members.

• Meanwhile, CTPartners hired Robert Wilder as managing partner of Middle East and North Africa. He will be based in the firm's Dubai office. Previously, Wilder worked at rival recruitment firm Spencer Stuart.

• CTPartners also agreed to acquire Australian recruitment firm Johnson. No financial details were disclosed.

• Sarah Sandstrom has joined placement agent Lazard as a New York-based managing director in the firm’s private fund advisory group. She previously was a London-based partner and management committee member at rival placement agent Atlantic-Pacific Capital.

• Cordium, the compliance and regulatory services provider, acquired hedge fund consultancy firm HedgeStart. The deal was funded by Cordium’s private equity sponsors Sovereign. No financial details were disclosed.

• British bank Aldermore made three appointments to its asset finance team. Emma Irving joins from BNP Paribas to become the head of materials handling. Nova Everidge joins the operational team from Close Asset Finance as head of new business origination. Hayley Pearson will become head of servicing and support, following an internal promotion.

• Wealth and asset management firm Northern Trust expanded its alternatives group with two appointments. James ‘Trey’ Hart III joined from Greenspring Associates, a venture capital fund of funds based in Baltimore, Maryland. He will be responsible for sourcing and analyzing venture capital investment opportunities in the US and Asia. Adam Freda, who will focus private equity secondaries, joins from Wind Point Partners, a mid-market leveraged buyout fund based in Chicago.

• Valuation experts Duff & Phelps appointed four managing directors within its global M&A and restructuring practice based in London. James Cook and Mark Skelton join the restructuring team, where they will focus on large and cross-border restructurings, as well as distressed transactions. Cook and Skelton were previously directors in the financial advisory and restructuring services team at advisory firm Zolfo Cooper. Joel Hope-Bell and Henry Wells join the global M&A team. Both Hope-Bell and Wells join from corporate finance advisor DC Advisory.

• Guernsey-based funds services provider Mercator has been acquired by trust, fund and corporate service provider First Names Group. No financial details were disclosed.

• Kelly Gouveia has been appointed head of trustee business in Jersey, within Deutsche Bank’s Fund Services business. Gouveia joins Deutsche from hedge fund Altis Partners.

• Throgmorton, a specialist accountancy and back office service provider based in the UK, hired Denis Jackson as business development director. Jackson’s previous role was with Tibra Trading, a privately held trading business.

• Doug Smith joined Insight Insurance’s corporate insurance consultancy business. Smith was previously chairman of insurance brokerage Marsh’s private equity practice. His role at Insight will see him focus on broadening and strengthening relationships with the private equity community.