Providence investment group adds managing director

Providence Equity Partners has hired former Golden Tree Asset Management partner Oliver Wriedt as managing director for the firm’s Capital Markets Group, which invests in the debt of media, communications and information companies.

Wriedt previously served as co-head of marketing and structure products for GoldenTree from 2004 to 2008, while before that he served as managing director at Deutsche Bank in London and New York. During his time at the latter, Wriedt worked with former Deutsche Bank Securities CEO Thomas Gahan, who was brought on by Providence in mid-2008 to launch its Capital Markets Group.

Gahan has also previously brought on former Deutsche leveraged finance head Michael Paasche to his team, which complements its parent company by investing in the debt of companies in the same media- and communications-related sectors that Providence has focused on for 20 years. Providence has over $22 billion in equity commitments and has invested in companies such as Warner Music Group, Univision and Hulu.

At the time of Gahan’s hiring, the firm said it was creating the Capital Markets Group because it had invested significant capital in corporate debt securities, and expected to see future credit market opportunities in its chosen sectors.

Wriedt’s hiring comes a day after movie theater chain AMC announced it has signed a deal to purchase almost all of Chicago-based Kerasotes ShowPlace Theaters from Providence, which is expected to give the firm a 2X return on its initial $75 million investment in 2003. At the same time however, a consortium that includes Providence is reportedly having difficulty finding a buyer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, while newspaper owner Freedom Communications – which the firm purchased a stake in in 2004 – filed for bankruptcy last year.