Hanover Group appoints merchant banker to board

Andrew Schmidt, a former top Credit Suisse Europe executive and merger and acquisition specialist, has been appointed as an executive director of Hanover Group Ltd. Schmidt returned to New Zealand in 2002 following a busy career with Credit Suisse and in the insurance industry, but has remained on contract to Credit Suisse until now, commuting between New Zealand and London. During that time he was retained as transaction manager for Credit Suisse Financial Services for various transactions including the sale of PPML, the largest self-invested personal pension administration company in the United Kingdom, and assisted in the sale of Churchill, owned by Credit Suisse to Directline for $3.3 billion. Schmidt was general manager and statutory CFO for Colonial Life UK following its acquisition by Credit Suisse.