Private equity leader to join Puerto Rico Oversight Board

A private equity firm's co-president and partner has been tapped to fill one of the two vacancies on the Puerto Rico Oversight Board.

President Joe Biden said Thursday he will appoint Juan Sabater, a partner and co-president of Valor Equity Partners, to the seven-member board.

"I look forward to working with Juan Sabater on our core mission to restore opportunity in Puerto Rico," said Board Chairman David Skeel. "Fulfilling PROMESA's mandate to achieve fiscal responsibility now depends to a large degree on a growing economy. That is our focus and investing in economic growth has been Juan Sabater's professional focus."

Brian Tumulty

The White House noted Valor, which has offices in Chicago, New York, Seattle and Miami, is "a growth-focused private equity firm" with about $16 billion in assets under management and is "recognized for the operational support it provides to the companies in which it invests."

According to the Valor website, Sabater "is primarily responsible for its capital raise and client service functions. In addition, Juan focuses on investment prospect generation, due diligence of potential investments, and investment structuring and execution."

He also serves on the board of directors of Harmony Biosciences, Addepar, Premise Data, and as a board observer for Dataminr and BlueVoyant, all companies in which Valor invests. He serves on the boards of seven nonprofit organizations and is the co-chair of the board at The Hewitt School, an independent girls' school in New York City.

"I will work collaboratively with Sabater for the well-being of the people of Puerto Rico and I trust that he will serve with professionalism and in favor of the goal of that the board finally ends its mandate in Puerto Rico," said Gov. Pedro Pierluisi.

"I don't know him, but his background and experience are impressive," said former Puerto Rico Oversight Board Member Justin Peterson. "I wish him the best, and I hope that he will be a force for changing the current anti-bondholder makeup of the [Oversight Board]."

Peterson resigned in mid-August from the board to protest its proposed Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority plan of adjustment. Antonio Medina resigned from the board in September. He was the board's sole Puerto Rico resident. The Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act requires one member reside in Puerto Rico and so the replacement for Medina will have to be a resident.

Several other board members' appointments have elapsed, but under PROMESA they can remain in their positions until they are replaced or reinstated.

Sabater previously was a managing director with Goldman Sachs. He also helped grow and scale Augeo Affinity, a marketing firm.

Sabater holds a bachelor's degree in history from Princeton University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. The Puerto Rico native lives in New York City.

"The best thing he could do, if PREPA bondholders win the lien appeal, is to privatize PREPA with a real utility," said Puerto Rico Clearinghouse Principal Cate Long. "The lack of cohesive management (authority is split between Oversight Board, Puerto Rico government, Energy Bureau, LUMA and Genera) means the utility will never be run efficiently and will be a long-term burden to all parties — particularly its customers."