Terra Firma CFO steps down

The UK headquartered firm’s finance chief left to join a tech-focused venture firm. 

After a thirteen year spell as chief financial officer, Chris Barnes is leaving Terra Firma to become chief operating officer of technology-focused venture firm Atomico.

In an emailed statement, Terra Firma chairman Guy Hands said the firm was not planning to replace Barnes, leaving his duties to chief executive Tim Pryce. “We are however looking to hire a senior deal person to work alongside Tim and myself,” he added.

Terra Firma has been struggling to raise fresh capital, leading to the decision revealed earlier this month to use a deal-by-deal investment strategy moving forward. Terra Firma allocated €1 billion of in-house capital for future dealmaking. 

The change in investment approach coincided with the departure of Stefan Thiele, a managing director in Terra Firma's renewable energy infrastructure team, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Thiele was hired after Damian Darragh, a long-serving partner who had fronted the firm’s renewable energy investment team, was asked to leave the business last year because of a disagreement over Darragh’s focus on fundraising. The firm is currently still attempting to collect €2 billion for renewable energy investments.