GE Capital EMEA head of origination departs

Howard Sharp, head of origination and sponsor coverage EMEA at GE Capital Europe has left the lender, PDI has learned. 

Sharp has a new role, PDI understands, but he declined to comment on where he was moving to. He remains on gardening leave for the time being. 

His departure is not the first from GE Capital’s European sponsor finance unit. Last month, CVC Credit Partners hired Chris Fowler from the same team. Fowler started as a managing director within the private debt team at the end of July after finishing up at GE Capital in June. 

General Electric announced that it would be selling the bulk of its GE Capital business lines in early April. Since then, executives from across the impacted units have been leaving, as the sales process created uncertainty over the long-term future of individual positions. 

In May, Houlihan Lokey made one of the first hires from GE Capital’s European sponsored finance business. The investment bank hired senior vice president Patrick Schoennagel into its European capital markets group advising unsponsored and private equity-backed firms on capital raising. 

In the US too, GE Capital executives jumped to other firms before the sale of GE Antares to CPPIB in June, despite attempts by GE to block potential buyers from head hunting staff.