Pamplona Capital Management Hires Brian Ratzan as Partner, Head of U.S. Private Equity

NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Pamplona Capital Management, a London based private equity and investment management firm, is pleased to announce that Brian K. Ratzan is joining as partner and head of U.S. private equity.  Mr. Ratzan will lead the expansion of the firm's private equity practice to the United States.

Mr. Ratzan, a longtime private equity investor, joins Pamplona Capital Management after 13 years with Vestar Capital where he most recently served as Managing Director.  In charge of Vestar's Consumer Group, Mr. Ratzan led the firm's investment in many branded companies and successfully worked with their management teams to develop these businesses into category leaders. Such investments included Del Monte Food, Sun Products, and Birds Eye Foods. Mr. Ratzan started his career in the investment banking group at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. 

"We are excited to have someone of Brian's caliber leading the expansion of our global footprint to the U.S.," said John Halsted, Managing Partner of Pamplona Capital Management.  "We believe there are significant opportunities for us in the U.S., and Brian's experience will be invaluable in accomplishing this important objective for our firm."

"I was attracted to Pamplona Capital because of its significant potential for growth, its proven track record and a compelling platform from which to build a business," said Mr. Ratzan.  "I look forward to working with the team to build the firm's business in the United States."

Mr. Ratzan added, "I have the greatest admiration for Vestar and all of my colleagues at the firm."

Mr. Ratzan and Pamplona will be hiring a full team of investment professionals dedicated to serving the U.S. market.

About Brian Ratzan
Brian is a partner and head of the U.S. private equity business at Pamplona. Prior to joining Pamplona, he was Managing Director in charge of Vestar's Consumer group, which he joined in 1998. He joined Vestar from from '21' International Holdings, a private investment firm, where he was a Vice President. Prior to that, Brian worked in the Investment Banking Group at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette.

Brian holds a BA from the University of Michigan, where he was a member of the academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his MBA from Harvard Business School.

About Pamplona Capital Management
Pamplona Capital Management is a specialist investment manager established in 2005 that provides an alternative investment platform across private equity, fund of hedge funds and single manager hedge fund investments.  We manage over $6 billion in assets for a variety of clients including public pension funds, international wealth managers, multinational corporations, family offices and funds of hedge funds.  Pamplona is currently managing its third private equity fund, Pamplona Capital Partners III, LP, which was raised in 2011 and has committed capital of euro 2.0 billion.  Pamplona invests long-term capital across the capital structure of its portfolio companies in both public and private market situations.  We invest primarily in Europe and North America.

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SOURCE Pamplona Capital Management