Apax Partners appoints co-CEOs to replace Halusa

By Anjuli Davies

LONDON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Apax Partners LLP has elected Andrew Sillitoe and Mitch Truwit as co-chief executive officers to replace Martin Halusa, who will become chairman of the private equity firm.

The pair will take on their new roles in January, with Truwit based in New York and Sillitoe in London. It will be the first time Apax has taken on a co-ceo model since the London-based firm was founded in 1969.

Halusa, 58 who took over from co-founder Ronald Cohen in 2003, will become chairmen until the firm completes investing its 5.8 billion-euro ($7.86 billion) Apax VIII fund, which it raised in June.

Since Cohen stepped down, Apax, one of the oldest private equity firms, put in place a succession process whereby every three years its partners holds elections to vote on the leadership of the firm.

The election of Sillitoe and Truwit was unanimous

"Apax's partnership model and consensus driven approach have served the Firm and all of its stakeholders extremely well over the past three decades and I believe Andrew and Mitch are well-qualified and experienced to lead and inspire the next generation of Apax," Halusa said in a statement.

Sillitoe, 41, joined the firm in 1998 and is a partner in the technology and telecoms team. He has been involved in the firm's investments in companies including mobile operator Orange (Other OTC: FNCTF - news) Switzerland, Inmarsat (Other OTC: IMASF - news) and Denmark's TDC (Other OTC: TDCAF - news) .

Truwit, 44, joined the firm in 2006 and is a partner in the Apax services team involved in investments including insurance brokerage HUB International, Bankrate (NYSE: RATE - news) and Garda.