Charlesbank Capital Partners is pleased to announce that Sandor Hau and Matthew Jacobson have joined the firm, effective August 1. The two join Charlesbank’s investment team to help lead investments in attractive opportunities across the credit markets, supplementing the firm’s continued primary focus on private equity. They will be based in Charlesbank’s New York office.
Mr. Hau has 20 years of experience in the investment industry, helping to build profitable credit platforms at Goldman Sachs and Nomura Securities International. Most recently he served as Managing Director, and Head of Corporate Credit and Special Situations at Nomura. Investing globally, he managed a team of professionals in sales, trading and research for high yield, bank loans and distressed debt. Mr. Hau joins Charlesbank as Managing Director. Mr. Jacobson brings a decade of related experience to his new role, having previously worked with Mr. Hau at both Goldman Sachs and Nomura, and joins as Principal.
Charlesbank plans to employ an integrated approach to credit investing, with Mr. Hau and Mr. Jacobson working in cross-functional teams with private equity professionals to share insights about industries and companies, and to identify opportunities with attractive, risk-adjusted expected returns. In its credit investing activities, the firm will continue to employ its long-held strategy of seeking discounts to intrinsic value, balancing strong potential returns with carefully controlled risk.
Michael Choe, Managing Director and President of Charlesbank, said that the firm has been considering for some time how to deepen its credit expertise to realize significant crossover benefits between credit and private equity investing. “We have known Sandor for a long time and are excited to have him and Matt join the team,” he said. “Sandor has established an impressive track record, with a valuable network of industry relationships, proven leadership skills and superior performance across a variety of challenging environments. My partners and I look forward to working with Sandor and Matt to find opportunities across the credit spectrum that will generate value for our investors.”
“Recent years have seen a proliferation of investment opportunities in credit, with compelling risk- return combinations available to those with differentiated perspectives,” said Mr. Hau. “Charlesbank’s fundamentals-driven investment approach and its long track record of underwriting successful and diverse private equity investments position the firm well to expand its investing activities in credit. I’m thrilled to join the Charlesbank team and am excited to be part of this evolution for the firm.”
Mr. Hau holds a BS from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Before graduate school, he was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Co-President of the Korea Finance Society. Mr. Jacobson is a graduate of Texas Christian University and recently served as Executive Director at a credit-focused asset management firm.
About Charlesbank Capital Partners
Based in Boston and New York, Charlesbank Capital Partners is a middle-market private equity investment firm managing more than $3.5 billion of capital. Charlesbank focuses on management-led buyouts and growth capital financings, generally investing in companies with enterprise values of $150 million to $1 billion; the firm also invests opportunistically in the credit markets. The firm seeks to partner with strong management teams to build companies with sustainable competitive advantage and excellent prospects for growth. For more information, visit www.charlesbank.com.