The appointments highlight growth within the asset class and the success of the firm's direct equity platform which stands at $15.3 billion in assets under management.

Pennsylvania-headquartered Hamilton Lane, a private markets investment management firm, has expanded its direct equity investment team. It has appointed five new senior team members, based in North America and Europe, to support the growth of the asset class.

Based in London, Aljoscha Dudek has been appointed as principal in the firm’s direct equity investments team. He will be responsible for the origination, evaluation, and due diligence of direct equity opportunities across EMEA. Prior to joining Hamilton Lane, Dudek was a director at PSP Investments, responsible for the development and management of a private equity portfolio in Europe.

Meanwhile, Nelda Chang, Kyle McGinnis and Jenny Zhang will be based at Hamilton Lane’s headquarters in Conshohocken. Chang will play a key role in leading the origination, evaluation and due diligence of direct investment opportunities across North America, the firm said in a statement. Prior to joining Hamilton Lane, Chang was a principal at GCM Grosvenor, responsible for evaluating and executing private equity co-investments. Previously, she worked at Headlands Capital and American Securities. Chang began her career in the leveraged finance group at JPMorgan.

McGinnis was formerly at Onex Partners, where he served as a principal, responsible for the evaluation and execution of private equity investments, the firm continued. Before that, he worked at H I G Capital on the middle market fund team. He began his career as an investment banker with Wells Fargo Securities. 

Zhang has joined from Two Sigma, where she was a vice president on the private equity team. Prior to that she was on Carlyle’s private equity team. Chang, McGinnis, Zhang and Dudek all report to Ken Binick, co-head of direct equity investments.

Finally, Benjamin Kalter has joined the firm’s impact investment team, where he is responsible for the origination, evaluation and management of direct equity impact transactions. Previously, Kalter served as a vice president at Nuveen on the private equity impact investing team, executing growth equity investments across developed and developing markets. He is based in Conshohocken and reports to Dave Helgerson, head of impact investments.

“Our deal flow is at record levels, and we are happy to welcome Nelda, Aljoscha, Kyle, Jenny and Benjamin to our already talented, experienced team as we seek to execute on our strategy and strengthen our presence and expertise across the direct equity landscape globally,” Binick said.

Hamilton Lane, which has been an active investor within the direct equity space for nearly 30 years, today serves institutional and private wealth clients from around the world. The firm’s direct equity investment team comprises 45 individuals globally, growing nearly 40 per cent over the past year across all levels. Hamilton Lane’s direct equity platform represents about $15.3 billion in assets under management.

The firm operates in offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. It has more than $947 billion in assets under management and supervision, composed of more than $131 billion in discretionary assets, and about $816 billion in non-discretionary assets.