Sotirhos joins along with industry veteran Simon Kinzett as the firm expands strategic Investor Relations initiatives across Europe, Middle East and Australasia
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — WestCap, a strategic operating and investing firm, is pleased to announce that Michael Sotirhos has joined the firm as the Head of Capital Formation and Strategy, a newly created role. Previously, Sotirhos was a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone in the Institutional Client Solutions Group, covering Blackstone’s $300B various Private Equity, Growth and Tactical Opportunities businesses. In this new role, Sotirhos rejoins WestCap’s Managing Partner and Founder, Laurence A. Tosi, formerly Senior Managing Director, CFO and Management Committee member at Blackstone. Sotirhos and Tosi worked together for several years at Blackstone and, prior to that, at Merrill Lynch. At WestCap, Sotirhos will lead and further institutionalize WestCap’s Investor Relations team and co-investment process, broadening the firm’s global investor base and driving expansion into new markets across Europe, Middle East and Australasia. He will be responsible for new product development, including working with WestCap’s portfolio companies to distribute their products and services, and will also join WestCap’s five person Management Committee.
During his 13-year tenure at Blackstone, Sotirhos helped manage and build fundraising and business development activities for Blackstone’s Private Equity businesses and was actively involved in launching and on-boarding several new initiatives across the platform. Prior to Blackstone, Sotirhos was a Partner at Atlantic Pacific Capital, Inc., a placement firm focused on raising Private Equity, Real Estate and Hedge Fund capital from institutional investors worldwide. He also worked in the Private Equity Placement Group at Merrill Lynch & Co., based in London, where he covered investors across Europe and the Middle East.
“Since raising its first fund in 2019, WestCap has been in hyper growth mode, but we are just beginning to build the Investment Partner base globally,” Sotirhos stated. “I am deeply grateful for my time at Blackstone but I’m equally excited to embark on this new journey. L.T. and the WestCap partners have pioneered a compelling operating equity approach and I hope to use my relationships, knowledge of the market and prior experiences to help guide the strategy and further scale this unique platform.”
Sotirhos is the latest in a string of recent senior hires for WestCap. In September of 2023, Simon Kinzett joined the firm as a Managing Director in London, after more than nine years as the Middle East and Australasia head of investor relations for Permira’s €77bn private equity and private credit businesses. Kinzett will be focused on spearheading Investor Relations initiatives across Europe, the Middle East and Australasia.
Commenting on the recent hires, Founder and Managing Partner at WestCap, Laurence A. Tosi, said: “We are excited to add two institutional caliber professionals to our Investor Relations team as we chart the next phase of WestCap’s growth. Our team is deliberately comprised of former founders and leaders from the most consequential companies in the world so that we can provide a value added, hands-on approach to the management teams we invest in. I have no doubt that Michael and Simon will play an indispensable role not only with our teams and investment partners, but with our portfolio company leadership as well.”
About WestCap
WestCap is a strategic operating and investing firm that partners with visionary leaders to build generational businesses. Our team consists of seasoned industry leaders and entrepreneurs who guide companies through the most pivotal stages of growth. With more than $5.8 billion in assets under management, WestCap and its partners have invested more than $5.6 billion of capital in revolutionary companies such as Airbnb, StubHub, Ipreo, Addepar, Hopper, iCapital, Klarna and GoodLeap. The firm has offices in New York, San Francisco and London. For more information, please visit www.westcap.com.
SOURCE WestCap
