Permira, the European buy-out firm, has hired Tom Lister as a partner and head of its New York office in a further move to bolster its international footprint ahead of fundraising for a fourth fund.

Lister joins Permira from Forstmann Little, the US buy-out house which is winding down its portfolio following a high-profile lawsuit by the State of Connecticut, whose pension fund lost $120m (€100m) when the firm made a string of ill-fated telecoms acquisitions at the height of the technology bubble.