Macquarie Funds Group expands its private equity division with two key European appointments

Macquarie Funds Group (Macquarie) today announced the appointments of Mike Siebert and Brenden Woods as portfolio managers to its Private Equity division as it continues to increase its presence in the European private equity market.

Macquarie’s Private Equity division provides institutional investors with access to world class private equity managers through a range of fund-of-funds. Notably Macquarie’s private equity division is regarded as a global leader in the development of private equity funds focused on Asia, clean technology and infrastructure.

Mike Siebert joins Macquarie with 10 years’ of experience in the consulting and financial services industries and will be located in Macquarie’s Munich office. Mr Siebert has been involved in the sourcing, analysis and ongoing management of more than 150 investment opportunities across Europe, Asia and Australia.

Brenden Woods also joins Macquarie’s Private Equity division focusing on investment and capital raising for infrastructure globally, with particular emphasis on Europe. Mr. Woods has extensive experience in assessing and managing risks associated with investment in a broad range of infrastructure sub-sectors and will be located in Macquarie’s London office.

Messrs Siebert and Woods will be members of the Macquarie’s Private Equity Investment Committee.

Macquarie Funds Group Head of Private Equity, Michael Lukin said: “Mike and Brenden bring a wealth of analytical and practical experience to the team and are well respected by their clients. Mike and Brenden will focus on continuing to build out our European capability in particular in the European infrastructure market.

Macquarie Funds Group has been very successful in providing private equity fund strategies to its clients across US, UK, Asia and Australia. We have been looking to continue to build on this success in Europe and current market conditions have meant we are able to capitalise on this opportunity.”

Prior to joining Macquarie, Mr Siebert spent eight years with Partners Group working in Zurich, Switzerland and Singapore before moving to Australia. He has also worked in Germany, United Kingdom, Spain and France.

Mr Siebert studied in Oxford, Madrid and Paris and holds a Diplome de Grande Ecole and European Masters in Management. He also holds a Vordiplom in Business Management from the University of Cologne, Germany. Mr Siebert is a native speaker of both German and English and is also fluent in Spanish and French.

Mr Woods joined Macquarie in 2006 working as part of Macquarie Capital’s infrastructure funds division. Most recently he was the Chief Operating Officer for Macquarie Capital's funds management business in India. Prior to joining Macquarie he held senior management positions with Ernst & Young, Anglian Water and British Gas.

Mr Woods holds a Bachelor of Financial Administration from the University of New England.

The additions of Mike Siebert and Brenden Woods brings the Macquarie private equity team to more than 28 investment professionals, located in Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, Munich and San Diego County.