Updated, 3:48 p.m. | LONDON — Terra Firma, the European private equity fund founded by the British financier Guy Hands, is shaking up its management ranks.
Damian Darragh, who was leading the firm’s efforts to raise a £2 billion renewable energy focused fund, has been asked to leave the firm, the firm confirmed.
Mr. Darragh worked for Terra Firma for 18 years and was head of its green power investments. The move was likely a surprise to investors as he was the deal maker behind investments in the renewable energy arena, including the fund’s investment in Infinis, the British wind power company that went public last year. Like Mr. Hands, Mr. Darragh came from Nomura.
Tim Pryce, the chief executive of the fund who works in London, made the decision, said a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to talk about it.
The fund is the first private equity fund focused on renewable energy and it is aiming for returns around 15 percent — a bit lower than typical leveraged buyout funds but higher than infrastructure funds.
With Mr. Darragh gone, the fund-raising will pass to Stefan Thiele, who joined last year from the German power maker EnBW; Ingmar Wilhelm, who joined recently from Enel Green Power; and Mike Kinski, who has been with Terra Firma since 2000.
A spokesman for the firm said the three men have “outstanding financial, operational and transactional skills,” and they “bring strong leadership experience from corporate backgrounds, a proven talent for fund-raising and a true passion for the sector.”
It is unclear whether the fund raised any money but it has not had a “first close,” which would be the first tranche of money raised.
Terra Firma, which was founded in 1994, suffered mightily from its 6 billion-euro purchase of EMI. When the deal imploded, Terra Firma sued Citibank over its role in the transaction. The firm argued that Citi fabricated an auction when one did not exist and said that Citi had multiple conflicts of interest. The private equity fund lost the case, but a federal appeals court has ordered a new trial, which will be heard this summer in New York.
Citi declined to comment.