Our team

Alessandro joined DH in 2005 and focuses on new investments across Northern Europe. He is involved in all areas of investment activity including origination, transaction execution and portfolio management.

While at DH, Alessandro has worked on acquisitions, disposals, financings and refinancings across Europe. This experience has included the investments in ASCO and Zobele and the merger of TMF and Equity Trust to form TMF Group.

Recent experience includes managing the Zobele investment, where he led the Company’s €180 million high yield bond refinancing in 2013 and a subsequent €210 million all-senior refinancing in 2017; as well as the sale of Balta. Alessandro currently sits on the board of Zobele.

Previously, he worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers, in the corporate finance department in London for six years and as a management consultant in Milan for two years.

Alessandro has a degree with honours in Management and Economics from Bocconi University in Milan.

Ben joined DH in 2008. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ACA) and joined from Grant Thornton where he was a Financial Services Auditor. Ben has a degree in Business Management from King’s College, London.

Ben is one of the principal contacts for investor enquiries and heads the experienced in-house team responsible for all aspects of accounting and reporting for the DH Funds. Ben has overseen over €3 billion of capital calls and €5 billion of distributions to our investors.

Additionally, Ben supports the deal teams on equity financing, structuring and realisation issues relating to transactions; he coordinates all Investment Committee materials and oversees the half-yearly valuation process.

Graeme joined DH in 1999 as General Counsel and became Managing Partner in 2015. He is part of the senior management team of the Firm and sits on the main board. Graeme advises on acquisitions, exits, disposals, financings, refinancings and other significant events across the DH portfolio and has significant involvement at all stages of the investment process.

Graeme has worked extensively on the acquisition, management and exits of ATU, LM Wind Power and Priory in Fund III, HellermannTyton, Moeller, SAFT and Tumi in Fund IV and Avanza, Eurofiber, Norit, Quirón, TMF Group and Vue in Fund V as well as being on the boards of a number of companies.

Previously, he was Vice President and Group Senior Counsel of Invensys, a company formed following the merger of engineering conglomerate BTR with Siebe. Before the merger, Graeme was head of BTR’s European legal department and a key player in its successful global divestment and acquisition programme which saw him negotiate nearly 50 transactions. He also worked as a solicitor with Simmons & Simmons and Simpson Curtis (now Pinsent Masons).

Graeme holds a degree in Law (LLB) from Brunel University.

John has worked for DH since 1997 and focuses on new investments across Northern Europe with a primary focus on the UK. He is involved in all areas of investment activity including origination, transaction execution and portfolio management. John serves on the Investment Committees of Funds IV and V.

John has worked on acquisitions, disposals, financings and refinancings across Europe. This broad experience was epitomised on the Impress investment where John worked on the original acquisition, managed the investment, including a number of major bank and bond refinancings, and then led the successful €1.7 billion exit.

Recent experience includes sourcing and leading the acquisition of ASCO and the sale of Balta. John has sat on the boards of a number of portfolio companies and currently sits on the boards of ASCO and KP1.

Previously, he worked for Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC), in both London and Edinburgh.

John is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ACA) and has an MA in Economic History (Hons) from the University of Aberdeen.

John joined DH in 2002 as the founding member and head of the Value Enhancement Team. He is responsible for the identification, implementation and management of strategic processes that enhance value and the promotion of value- creating sustainable business practices across the DH portfolio companies at all stages of the investment process, including ESG matters.

John has worked extensively on a number of successful investments, including ATU, Impress, Knowles, LM Wind Power and RHM in Fund III, HellermannTyton, Moeller, SAFT and Tumi in Fund IV, and Quirón and TMF Group in Fund V. John serves on the Investment Committees of Funds IV and V and has also sat on the boards of a number of portfolio companies. He currently sits on the board of Zobele.

Prior to joining DH, John worked in turnaround consulting for five years for PricewaterhouseCoopers and Arthur Andersen. He also has significant industry experience having worked for Quaker Oats and Premier Brands.

John’s qualifications include a CPA from the Institute of Certified Public Accountants and an MBA from Edinburgh University.

Julie has a degree in Law from Hertford College, Oxford University and is a qualified solicitor. She joined DH in 2011 from US law firm Skadden Arps where she was Of Counsel for five years.

Before that, she worked for more than 20 years in both London and Frankfurt with a predecessor of the international law firm now known as Hogan Lovells. She became a qualified lawyer in 1985 and a Partner specialising in private equity and corporate transactions in 1991. She advised DH throughout her time in private practice including in respect of the acquisition/post acquisition activities of LM Wind Power and TMF Group.

Julie has prime responsibility for all legal matters relating to the DH Group. As Compliance Officer, Julie is also responsible for promoting ethical conduct and compliance with the rules and regulations (including the requirements of the UK FCA) and best practices applicable to the firm.

Julie is a currently vice chairman of the BVCA Legal and Accounting Committee.

Jyrki joined DH in November 2017 and is involved in all aspects of investment activity including origination, transaction execution and portfolio management with a primary focus on the Nordic region. He also serves on the Investment Committee.

Prior to joining the Firm, Jyrki worked at Terra Firma in London where he focused on sourcing and executing investments in the Nordic region, including the acquisition of all McDonald's restaurants in the Nordic countries. From 2003 to 2015, Jyrki worked at Triton, based in London and Stockholm. At Triton, Jyrki worked on the investments in Bravida, European Directories, GCE, NVS, Ovako, Papyrus, Puukeskus and Suomen Lähikauppa and served on a number of boards.

Jyrki started his career at J.P. Morgan where he worked as Analyst in the European Utilities Equity Research team. He then joined JPMorgan Partners, where he worked on/with a number of investments.

Jyrki holds a Master of Science degree in Economics from the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration (now part of Aalto University).

Matt joined DH in 2004 and focuses on new investments across Northern Europe. He is involved in all areas of investment activity including origination, transaction execution and portfolio management and serves on the Investment Committees of Funds IV and V.

During his time at DH, Matt has worked on acquisitions, disposals, IPOs, financings and refinancings across Europe and sat on the boards of a number of portfolio companies. This experience has included the successful investments in RHM and Moeller.

Recent portfolio responsibilities include playing a leading role on the investment in TMF Group, where Matt served on the board. This included leading the significant add-on acquisitions of Equity Trust and KCS, a €650m high yield bond financing in 2012 and a subsequent €750 million all-senior refinancing in 2016, as well as the successful €1.75 billion exit announced in 2017. He also currently sits on the board of KP1.

Prior to this, Matt worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Transaction Services in London and Frankfurt.

Matt qualified as a Chartered Accountant (ACA) in 2000 and has an MA in Modern Languages from St Edmund Hall, Oxford University.

Peter joined DH in 2002 and since then has worked on virtually every new investment, realisation and all other major transactions in the portfolio, with responsibility for coordinating the structuring of and execution of investments and realisations from and to the DH funds. He additionally oversaw all Investment Committee materials and the half-yearly valuation process and associated reporting to investors.

In 2015, Peter became a full time member of the investment team and is involved in transaction execution and portfolio management. More recently, he worked on the sales of TV3 and LM Wind Power and is a member of the DH portfolio management team for ASCO where he also sits on the board.

Prior to joining DH, Peter worked at INVESCO as an Investment Manager specialising in private equity transactions in Central and Eastern Europe. He began his career with PwC, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant (ACA). Peter is additionally an Associate of the CFA Society of the UK.

He has an MA in Modern Languages from Emmanuel College, Cambridge University.

Richard joined DH in 2000 as Group Financial Controller before being appointed CFO in 2010. He is part of the senior management team and sits on the main board of the Firm. He works closely with the rest of the Board in all aspects of DH operations, planning, development and investment. Richard has overall responsibility for the Finance and Reporting functions and for most of the other support departments.

Richard qualified as a Chartered Accountant (ACA) in 1989 before working as a Manager in the Trade Finance Division of Grant Thornton in Hong Kong and later as the Finance Director of a London-based independent fund manager.