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Alvarez & Marsal builds China team
Alvarez & Marsal, a restructuring and turnaround advisor, has hired Stewart Winspear as a senior director to build the firm's capabilities across Greater China. Winspear, who joins A&M's Greater China team, will be supporting the establishment of the firm's new office in Shanghai, which is scheduled to be ready by September.

Prior to joining A&M,Winspear was the chief financial officer of IBM Business Partners Asia Pacific, managing the financial performance of the operation across 15 countries in the region. Prior to IBM, he was at PWC Corporate Finance focusing on restructuring, business strategy, valuations and due diligence.

Watson Wyatt appoints Sydney specialist
Watson Wyatt, a consulting firm, has appointed Sandi Orleow as head of private equity in Australia. The new position was created in recognition of an “unprecedented interest in private equity” among superannuation investors in Australia and globally, according to Watson Wyatt. During the past two years, the number of mandates awarded by the consultant increased sixfold.

Based in Sydney, Orleow joined Watson Wyatt in May 2004, initially concentrating on Australian equity research and client consulting before shifting her focus to private markets research in September 2006. She will report to David Nail, head of investment consulting in Australia.

IFC appoints new South Asia head
International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, has appointed Paolo Martelli as regional director for South Asia. He replaces Iyad Malas, who had previously held the role for three years.

Martelli, who joined IFC in 1996 as an investment officer, said the division would continue to focus on infrastructure, manufacturing, rural development and services sectors such as tourism, IT and healthcare.

Prior to his latest assignment, he had spent over seven years in Latin America for IFC, initially setting up successful operations in the Andean region and more recently in Mexico and Central America.

NEA promotes six
Paul Hsiao, a principal at US venture firm New Enterprise Associates' Menlo Park office has been promoted to partner, while Ben Mathias, who joined as an associate last year in India, has been promoted to principal.

Hsiao, who focuses on mobile, energy and Asian investments, joined NEA in 2003 after co-founding Mazu Networks, a venture-backed security software appliance company. In the mid-nineties, he helped set up McKinsey's Greater China technology practice. Mathias joined NEA from a software start-up, where he had been a vicepresident. Hsiao and Mathias were among six recent promotions at NEA.

Vestar Japan completes line-up
US mid-market buyout firm Vestar Capital Partners has appointed Susumu Sekihata as a director of Vestar Japan Advisers, the Japanese affiliate it established in July last year.

The Japanese native returns to Tokyo from New York, where he was vice president and founding member of Red Diamond Capital, a US affiliate of Mitsubishi Corporation established in 2002.

Before founding Red Diamond, Sekihata held various positions at Mitsubishi in the US and Japan, having begun his career with the Japanese conglomerate in 1991. Sekihata is the seventh professional to join Vestar Japan.

H&Q Asia Pacific promotes two in Seoul
H&Q Asia Pacific has promoted Jong Won “John” Lee and Yuchul “YC” Rhim to the positions of managing director in Seoul. Both men were previously senior vice-presidents with H&QAP Korea. Lee, who previously worked for Credit Agricole Indosuez in Paris, has focused on H&QAP's Korean investments since the firm established its Seoul office in 1998.

Rhim joined H&QAP Korea in 2003, after working as a director at Littauer Technologies, an Internet holding company, and then at a portfolio company of H&QAP.

In 2005, H&QAP became the first foreign private equity firm to receive investment from Korea's National Pension Corporation, which made a $200 million commitment to its latest fund.

Deutsche hires former Temasek director
Deutsche Bank has appointed Andrew Yeo as a director of global credit trading in private equity, as the bank looks to take advantage of rising private equity opportunities across the Asia region.

Yeo joins Deutsche from Temasek Holdings, where he was a director responsible for sourcing and executing private equity investments in the technology, media and telecommunications sectors. He has over 12 years' experience in research, capital markets and balance sheet finance and investment.

At Deutsche, Yeo will be investing from the bank's balance sheet and syndicating the investments out to the bank's clients. Based in Singapore, Yeo will report to Sajid Javid who heads up the bank's Asia global credit trading team.

CVC poaches Keeble from UBS
Ben Keeble, formerly a managing director and head of financial sponsors at UBS in Sydney, has moved over to the ‘buy-side’, joining CVC Asia Pacific as a managing director. At UBS, Keeble was involved in a number of leveraged buyouts in the region, including CVC's A$5.5 billion recapitalisation of PBL Media.

UBS has been busy in the past 18 months in Australia, thanks to the rapid acceleration of private equity-sponsored transactions in the region. Keeble joined UBS in London in 1998 and moved to Sydney in 2000.Keeble, who started with CVC in May, replaces Adrian Warner who left toward the end of last year to join Australia-focused Catalyst Investment Managers.