AXA Private Equity adds NY boss to executive board

LONDON (Reuters) - AXA Private Equity, the private equity investment arm of the French insurer, said it has appointed Benoit Verbrugghe as a member of its executive board, rewarding the 13-year veteran of the firm for his dealmaking and fundraising successes.

Verbrugghe, who heads the firm's New York office, joins the now five-strong board led by CEO Dominique Senequier, AXA Private Equity said on Monday.

Verbrugghe, 37, played a key part in raising a new $7.1 billion euro fund for buying portfolios of private equity assets from banks and other institutions, the largest fund raised by a European private equity group this year.

He was also instrumental in two of the largest such deals, when the group acquired a $1.7 billion portfolio from Citigroup (C.N) in 2011 and $1.9 billion portfolio from Bank of America (BAC.N) in 2010, AXA Private Equity said in a statement.

Verbrugghe will sit on the board alongside Senequier, Dominique Gaillard, Managing Director Direct Funds, Vincent Gombault, Managing Director Funds of Funds, and Stephan Illenberger, Managing Director.

(Reporting by Simon Meads; editing by Anjuli Davies)