Praesidian Capital Europe announced it retained Serkan Dede and Sarah Pierce as investment directors.

“We are very pleased to welcome Serkan and Sarah to the London team,” said Jason Drattell, founder of Praesidian Capital. “They are both eminently qualified from their work in banking and finance to facilitate transaction origination, structuring, and execution in the lower middle market.”

Serkan joined Praesidian in September with more than nine years of experience in corporate banking and leveraged finance. Most recently, he served as an associate director of Lloyds Bank in acquisition finance, where he focused on acquisition financings and leveraged buyouts in the UK lower middle market sector.

Sarah joined Praesidian in October after having worked across Royal Bank of Scotland’s UK structured finance team for five years, recently as a director in their origination and execution team for the lower mid-market. Prior to that, she worked in RBS’s mid-market financials sponsors team originating off-market private equity transactions and with the mid-market structured finance transaction team executing corporate transactions. Sarah is a member of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments. In November of 2013, Sarah won the Professional Woman of the Future award.