Fiderion Financial Services Group established a specialty division called Fiderion Operations & Technology Group to help private equity funds, venture capital funds and hedge funds find new portfolio deals, as well as assist in executive searches.
"It's like outsourcing business development," said the leader of the new division, Robert Gallagher, who joined Fiderion as a managing director in June from Heidrick & Struggles International, where he was a principal and consultant. "These companies are looking for deals, and there is a lot of capital on the sidelines," he said. "We are talking to a lot of CIOs and other top executives every day. We can help private equity and hedge funds bird-dog a lot of opportunity that would never come on their radar screen."
"Firms are looking to put money to work in a variety of different ways, ether through public stocks or private companies," he said. "We want to help them add value to their investment portfolio."
With private equity funds and hedge funds exerting influence on boards and management to name new directors and top executives, the new Fiderion division can help recruit candidates to fill those positions, he said.
"This value-added approach we think is a little different … and we are still shaping it," Mr. Gallagher said of the new division, which has four professionals.
