Private fund administrator Petra Funds Group opened its London office with the former Riverstone European general counsel and head of ESG, Charlie Chipchase, at the helm.
Chipchase will be the firm’s new head of Europe and as a private equity lawyer with two decades of experience will expand the firm’s European footprint in offering fund administration for private equity, venture capital and private debt funds.
At Riverstone, Chipchase built out and led all aspects of the firm’s ESG program and was a member of the firm’s ESG and D&I committees. He handled legal, compliance and regulatory matters across multiple funds, strategies and jurisdictions.
Petra is led by former Riverstone General Counsel and CAO Stephen Coats and CFO Peter Haskopoulos, who head a team of over 50 fund administration professionals across the U.S. and Europe. Petra has offices in New York, London, Amsterdam, and Los Angeles and administers funds and structures in excess of $40 billion in assets.
“It is an exciting time to be joining Petra and great to be teaming up with my former Riverstone colleagues,” said Chipchase in a statement. “There are obviously a number of outsourced fund administration providers, but I feel Petra offers something unique to GPs, namely an outsourced fund administration business provided by seasoned professionals who think like private equity CFOs and COOs because that is their background – at a time that the weight of middle and back-office burdens is set to grow.”
Back in the U.S., Louis Sweeney has joined the firm as director of compliance. He brings with him a combination of working at FINRA and experience in a compliance consulting capacity. Prior to joining Petra, he advised a wide range of broker-dealers and investment managers on various regulator and compliance matters, including developing and maintaining compliance programs reasonably designed to achieve compliance with complex federal securities laws and regulations.
“Over the past several years, the SEC has heightened its scrutiny of private fund managers and has proposed sweeping changes to the regulatory landscape,” said Louis in a statement. “I am very excited to join an all-in-one fund solution provider that enables us to work seamlessly across business units to support investment managers in meeting their reporting and compliance obligations.”
