Ex-Apax financial services chief to replace Bridgepoint’s Davison

Bridgepoint’s seven-person financial services team will change leadership on 1 September, as its head for the past six years, John Davison, leaves to “pursue other interests”. He has not disclosed future plans, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Davison will be replaced by former Apax Partners heavyweight Stephen Green, who retired from the global buyout firm in March 2008. Green had joined Apax in 1997 from PriceWaterhouseCoopers; in 2000, he became a partner and head of Apax’s global financial and business services team. He was made part of the firm’s investment approval committee in 2003.

His experience and sector knowledge “will be especially relevant as Bridgepoint seeks to identify the best investment opportunities across Europe”, William Jackson, Bridgepoint managing partner, said in a statement.

The firm closed its fourth fund late last year on roughly €4.8 billion. Its financial services portfolio currently includes 1st Credit, a UK distressed debt purchase and collection company that it acquired in 2004 for approximately €104 million. The firm’s financial services team is spread across London, Frankfurt, Stockhom, Madrid and Warsaw.

In November 2008, Bridgepoint’s latest fund, Bridgepoint Europe IV, closed in excess of €4.8 billion. The firm also recently absorbed the direct investment arm of Hermes, creating a 10-person, lower mid-market team dubbed Bridgepoint Development Capital.