BETHESDA, Md., June 5 /PRNewswire/ -- American Capital Strategies, Ltd. (Nasdaq:ACAS) announced today that it has hired Virginia Rollins, Principal, and Brian Lee and Derek Hansen, Associates, in its Bethesda, Maryland headquarters. John Thornton has joined American Capital in its San Francisco office as a Principal.
At the time of the initial public offering (IPO) in August 1997, American Capital had a total of 8 Principals and 3 Associates located in six regional offices. Currently, American Capital has 12 Principals and 5 Associates. American Capital now employs a total of 27 employees, up 59% from the time of the IPO.
Virginia Rollins, Principal, contributes her finance experience to American Capital after three years as Managing Director of the Bulgarian American Enterprise Fund (BAEF). BAEF is a $55 million investment fund that operated out of Sofia, Bulgaria. Under Ms. Rollins' leadership, BAEF built a portfolio of commercial loans and equity investments in joint ventures and privatizations of state enterprises. Prior to joining BAEF, Ms. Rollins was an officer of the Finance Department at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, responsible for OPIC's Caribbean and Central America Region. Before her employment with OPIC, Ms. Rollins worked as an officer in the Latin American Division of the First National Bank of Maryland where she was responsible for the administration of a $75 million portfolio of commercial loans spread in Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia and Brazil. Ms. Rollins holds a Masters degree in International Management in Arizona and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Prior to joining American Capital as Principal, John Thornton was an Investment Manager with Berkeley International Capital Corporation in San Francisco. At Berkeley, Mr. Thornton invested equity and equity-linked subordinated debt in private company growth financings and leveraged buyouts. As part of a group of five professionals, Mr. Thornton successfully closed more than 40 private transactions totaling over $450 million. Mr. Thornton holds an MBA from University of California Berkeley. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.
Brian Lee, previously with BT Alex. Brown's corporate finance department in New York, joins American Capital in its Bethesda headquarters as an Associate. While at BT, Mr. Lee executed leveraged buyouts, mergers and acquisitions, public equity offerings, high yield debt offerings and refinancings totaling over $5 billion. Mr. Lee holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy and History from Williams College.
Derek Hansen has also joined American Capital in its Bethesda headquarters as an Associate. Previously, Mr. Hansen was a Senior Analyst with Broadview Associates, an investment bank providing merger and acquisition advisory services to information technology companies. At Broadview, Mr. Hansen worked on both change of control and private placement transactions with aggregate consideration value in excess of $2 billion. Mr. Hansen received his Bachelor of Science in Economics summa cum laude from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
American Capital Chairman David Gladstone remarked, ``I am pleased at the caliber of staff we have assembled. We look forward to working with Virginia, John, Brian and Derek. Each professional brings unique experience and skills that add to the depth and quality of our current staff.''
Malon Wilkus, President and CEO of American Capital said, ``We welcome these professionals to the American Capital team. Our plan is to increase our staff even further as we expand our offices to include other regions of the United States.''
