17Capital hires Sklar as senior adviser

Sklar will focus on sourcing transactions with private equity investors in North America, according to a statement.

She was most recently vice-chair for subscription finance at Wells Fargo, and previously held senior financing roles at WestLB and Rothschild. Sklar is also a founder and global co-chair of Women in Fund Finance, a worldwide network of 2,000 women in private equity, banking and law.

She will add to 17Capital's current advisers, comprising senior adviser Beverly Berman and supervisory board members Carsten Eckert and Andy Moysiuk.

17Capital offers capital to investors in the form of preferred equity or unsecured loans, with a view to helping them build their portfolio or generate liquidity for their shareholders.

Previously popular with secondaries funds, preferred equity is set for a massive boost in popularity for buyout vehicles in the current environment, as recently explored by Unquote's Denise Ko Genovese.

17Capital is reportedly in the process of raising its fifth fund for the strategy, with a target of €1.8bn. Founding partner Pierre-Antoine de Selancy said his firm has been inundated with queries for preferred equity, with enquiries totalling $3bn between mid-March and mid-April – with 90% coming from GPs. This is compared to $10bn for the 12 months to the end of 2019, which consisted of a more diverse range of clients (GPs, LPs and family offices).

It notably made a €100m preferred equity investment in an unnamed private equity fund managed by a European firm in late April. The preferred equity lender stated the funds provided would enable the manager to "invest further in their existing portfolio companies and maximise value for their investors". The private equity firm is an "established" manager with more than €10bn in assets under management and a "long track record across several cycles", according to a statement from 17Capital.

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