Welton returns to private equity at JP Morgan

US investment bank JP Morgan Chase has named Stephen Welton as a new partner at JP Morgan Partners (JPMP), the bank's private equity division which last week closed the largest single private equity fund at $7.7bn.

Welton will focus on buyouts as a partner in the European team at JPMP. Previously he was chairman of TV Travel, where he led a management buyout of the UK and German television distribution business from Barclays Private Equity in 1999. From 1995 to 1999 he was managing director UK of Barclays Private Equity.

The appointment increases JPMP's team of European partners to five and the total number of professionals to 22. The team is led by European group head Jonathan Meggs.

JP Morgan had originally hoped to raise $13bn for the JP Morgan Partners Global 2001, which it launched in late 2000. The target for third party commitments was revised downward from $5bn to $3bn after limited partners only committed $1bn in the first six months. JP Morgan's internal commitment was scaled back from the proposed $8bn to $6bn after the firm was forced to write down $1.2bn in bad private equity investments last year. JP Morgan posted $299m of private equity related losses in the third quarter of this year.

Since its first close in November 2001, the fund has made 39 investments. JPMP is planning to commit around 20 per cent of its latest fund to European investments.

JP Morgan Partners, formerly Chase Capital Partners, currently has approximately $29bn under management and has closed over 1,000 individual transactions since it was set up in 1984. The firm has more than 150 investment professionals in eight offices worldwide.