QIC promotes private equity staff

QIC has beefed up its private equity team by promoting a swag of investment professionals as the $110 billion Queensland state-backed fund hunts for deals.

The promotions include two new partners in the investor's London and San Francisco offices.

Toby Suen has been elevated to partner, having joined the quasi-sovereign fund and the private equity team five years ago and most recently serving as principal.

Suen focuses on all European investment strategies, including venture capital, buyouts and co-investments.

Previously, he was an investment manager within the private markets team at Abrdn, the London-listed global investment company.

There, he covered diligence for co-investment and secondary opportunities, focussing on middle and lower-middle-market buyouts and growth equity.

Before joining Abrdn, Suen was the first employee at JDX Consulting, a financial services start-up that grew to over 700 employees before being acquired by Delta Capital in 2022.

Meanwhile, as a new partner in the San Francisco office, Zach Jackson focuses on North American buyout strategies and global secondary investments.

As part of his portfolio governance responsibilities, Jackson represents the firm on several company boards and fund LPACs.

While initially joining QIC in 2011, he was at P4G Capital Management from 2020 as a principal and direct investor where he was responsible for sourcing, due diligence negotiations, deal structuring and portfolio company management.

He rejoined QIC in 2023.

Before signing up the first time, Jackson worked at Context Capital Management, in San Diego, running credit and equity analysis on prospective and existing portfolio investments and co-managed levered investment grade convertible volatility and capital structure arbitrage portfolio.

Moreover, QIC has appointed two vice presidents for the Brisbane and London businesses respectively and elevated two analysts to associates.

Local operator Matiela Baker has been promoted to vice president from senior associate. She joined the QIC finance team in 2010 working in the liquid markets group funds, infrastructure, and private equity funds.

Baker then moved wholly to private equity with a focus on portfolio monitoring, business operations and client informational needs.

Most recently, she has played an integral role in establishing and deploying the Queensland Venture Capital Development Fund to accelerate, develop and enhance the industry in Queensland.

For her part, May Sulaiman has been appointed vice president and is tasked with driving investment origination and execution, focusing on building and maintaining relationships with key intermediaries, PE managers, company management teams and peer investors as well as monitoring the existing investments within Europe.

Specifically, she will focus on diligence for co-investment, fund and secondary opportunities mostly in the middle and lower middle-market buyout and growth equity space.

Before arriving at QIC, Sulaiman worked as an investment manager at Graphite Capital, a UK mid-market private equity fund, an investment executive at CDC Group, an investment firm focused on growth markets.

She began her investment banking career at the Royal Bank of Canada in London.

Tom Le Brocq moves from analyst to associate.

Le Brocq has been with QIC since 2022.

He previously worked as an analyst at Macfarlanes, a London law firm, where he advised on valuations and financial modelling for management incentive plans, carried interest, and commercial negotiations in the UK mid-market private equity industry.

Finally, Hayden Wall has been promoted to associate from an analyst role, having joined QIC in 2019 as part of the graduate program. He started in the private markets risk team, working with and supporting the private equity, infrastructure and real estate investment teams.

Wall joined the private equity team in 2022, where he continues to develop and execute a pipeline of early-stage and growth capital deals.

QIC head of private equity Steve Whatmore said team stability underpins the longstanding presence and track record QIC private equity has built across Australia, North America and Europe.

"These promotions recognise the calibre of talent we have in Brisbane, London and San Francisco, where our conviction in the lower-mid market buyouts, venture and growth sectors is proving fruitful as deal flow strengthens.

"Nurturing exceptional talent to address our core markets means we can continue to identify and maximise opportunities to deliver superior performance and compelling returns to our clients."