Avista opens European private equity business

Avista Capital Partners created a European private equity unit, Avista Capital Europe, confirmed spokeswoman Diana Postemsky.

The business will be based in London, staffed by a team from DLJ Merchant Banking Partners — Newton Aguiar, Allen Yurko and Kunal Pandit. They are scheduled to join Avista in September, Ms. Postemsky, stated in an e-mail in response to inquiries.

Avista was spun out of DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, Credit Suisse’s private equity unit, in 2005.

Mr. Aguiar is a partner at Avista. Mr. Yurko joins as industry executive and Mr. Pandit is a vice president at Avista.

At DLJ, Mr. Aguiar is a managing director and partner, Mr. Yurko is an industry partner and Mr. Pandit is a vice president. Suzanne Fleming, Credit Suisse spokeswoman could not be reached by deadline with information on replacements.

— Contact Arleen Jacobius at ajacobius@pionline.com