Gibbs leaves Mantaray search firm

He is expected to re-emerge in the search industry following an agreed period of gardening leave.

There have been a number of arrival and departures at Mantaray in the last 10-12 months. This appears initially to have been due to a change of focus away from equities towards capital markets. The firm has a particular focus on structured finance.

Last month Mantaray hired Ted Tracey from rival TMP Worldwide, adding to a team covering debt products and debt capital markets. It also hired Keith De Souza from Merrill Lynch, where he developed and marketed credit strategy.

Deborah Dor, Mantaray's managing director, had been keen to make some hires following the departure of her co-managing director Lee Thacker in July to rival search firm The Whitney Group.

Chris Harrison also left in July for Whitney, just over six months after he had been hired from Harvey Nash to focus on high-yield and leveraged finance roles. Nakul Kapur, a lawyer-turned headhunter hired at the same time to recruit on the collateralised debt obligation and derivatives market, has also left the firm.

Gilly Cheshire, who was focusing on equity research and hedge funds, left at the start of the year when a decision was taken to shift the emphasis to capital markets.

Amelia Lovatt, another consultant, has also left and is now at search firm Marshall Warburton.