Strategic Value Partners has added an Advent International veteran and a Sun Capital Partners exec to lead its Investment-Operating team globally.
The $17 billion Greenwich, Conn.-based firm appointed David Richards to head up its team in North America, while Sergei Spiridonov will lead the team in Europe from London.
“They bring tremendous experience and strong records of achieving operational excellence through years of work at top global investment and consulting firms, as well as within companies,” said Victor Khosla, SVP’s founder and chief investment officer. “Our Investment-Operating team is a true differentiator in how we drive meaningful transformations within our portfolio companies. We are excited to scale our operating team with top talent to support the incredible opportunities ahead of us.”
The hires expand SVP’s Investment-Operating Team to 15 professionals globally. Members of the team sit within and coordinate closely with SVP’s investment team of more than 80 professionals. Specifically, the operations-focused team works to improve strategy, execution and performance across the firm’s portfolio — especially within the 15 companies with more than 70,000 employees where SVP-managed funds and accounts own a controlling interest or have significant influence.
The coordination between SVP’s operations and financial investment professionals fosters a seamless exchange of insights throughout the ownership period, officials said.
Richards joins from Advent International, where he spent 14 years helping grow the firm’s global Portfolio Support Group, refining its broad set of capabilities focused on supporting management teams in the development and implementation of value creation plans. Prior to Advent, Mr. Richards was with Bain & Company, providing private equity clients with due diligence and portfolio company support.
Spiridonov joins from Sun Capital, where he served as managing director of operations, following his role as group COO and operating partner at the firm, which he joined in 2015. Prior to Sun Capital, Mr. Spiridonov led the strategic transformation team at Tesco, focusing primarily on resetting the direction of the international business.
