Proudlock takes over private equity at Granville Baird

Michael Proudlock, the current chairman of Granville Baird Capital Partners, will pick up responsibility for private equity at Granville Baird, the European arm of US securities firm, Robert W Baird.

According to eFinancialNews, he and John Fordham, presently head of transatlantic mergers and acquisitions at Granville Baird, have been made executive chairmen of the European part of the business. Fordham will be responsible for equity capital markets.

The move comes a week after David Williamson, CEO of Granville Baird, said he would be leaving the firm, along with Nicholas Donaldson, head of investment banking. 30 jobs were also cut as it emerged that the equities division had suffered amid the current economic downturn.

Many of Granville Baird’s unquoted investments are in companies operating in the technology and healthcare sectors, and many were made when technology stocks were still favoured by investors. The group’s global private equity arm manages about $1bn.

Among the European investments is a £5.5m injection of growth capital into Vistorm, a company developing managed Internet services.