António Pires de Lima, the former Minister of the Economy, has been hired by the US private equity fund Advent International as a consultant.
Pires de Lima, a minister in the Passos Coelho coalition PSD-CDS government, joins the US fund already operating in 40 overseas territories and will be "identifying and evaluating investment opportunities in the Portuguese market as well as in the global consumer sector."
Pires de Lima, who, before his unsuccessful stint in the coalition government from 2013 to 2015, worked for Compal and Unicer in the drinks sector.
Since leaving government, the often sober Pires de Lima already has taken up a position at Parfois and a non-exec position at Media Capital. He also is on the board of the Serralves Foundation.
"António Pires de Lima brings with him more than three decades of experience in the consumer sector, a dynamic industry in constant evolution that faces several challenges from new social and consumer trends," says Gonzalo Santos, a director at Advent International and director general of the US company in Spain.
Advent is focused on buyouts of companies in Western and Central Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia.
"I hope to be able to apply the experience that I have acquired throughout my career to advise the Advent team in identifying investment opportunities in Portugal, as well as building their strong track record in the consumer sector," says Pires de Lima, whose most notable appearance in the parliamentary Assembly was appearing the worse for drink while attempting an afternoon speech after a taxpayer-subsidised lunch: in politics, on such things are you judged.
