LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) - U.S. private equity firm

Warburg Pincus has named Andrew Sibbald sole head of Europe and

Rene Obermann as chairman of the region, according to an

internal memo seen by Reuters on Thursday.

Sibbald joined the firm from Evercore ( EVR ) as co-head of

Europe nine months ago and will be the first British national to

lead the European business. As Europe co-head he worked with

Obermann, who was the other co-head of the region and both men

will continue working together.

Sibbald will lead day-to-day business for the financial

investor's European activities. Obermann, who is also chairman

of Airbus, will continue to advise on portfolio

companies and new investments, according to the memo.

Warburg Pincus's recent European investments include

Helsinki-based digital employee benefits firm Epassi and UK

insurance company Specialist Risk Group, both valued around one

billion pounds. Recent exits include selling Aion Bank and

Vodeno to Unicredit, and Reiss to Next.

In June, Warburg Pincus announced the addition of two

managing directors, including its first hire of a partner from

outside the firm.

Last week, Warburg Pincus named veteran insider Jeffrey

Perlman as its chief executive officer, in only the third

generation of leadership for the private equity firm in its

nearly 60-year history. Perlman succeeds Chip Kaye and will

start in September.

Founded in 1966 in New York, Warburg Pincus was one of the

first private equity funds to invest in Europe in 1983 and has

invested in more than 140 companies across 26 countries. It has

around $83 billion in assets under management globally.