European jobs roundup: Lazard builds principal finance unit

As CSFB, Société Générale and Barclays all unveiled substantially higher profits for 2003 last week, Lazard added to the mood of optimism by moving into mid-market private equity with the creation of a London-based principal finance unit.

The bank recruited two buyout specialists: Graham Keniston-Cooper, a former Cinven partner and Victor Vadeneaux, a former partner at Advent International.

Keniston-Cooper will lead the European business in London. There is speculation that the unit may add another senior figure as well as junior staff later this year.

Goldman Sachs dampened spirits by making redundancies in equities sales and trading. Though most were in the US, five were understood to be in Europe.

James Barham, director of institutional marketing at Liontrust, the UK fund manager, quit the company after nine years and joins Intermediate Capital Group (ICG).

Robert James left Baring Asset Management after 14 years, joining Insight Investment, the asset management arm of HBOS, as an equity analyst on the European banking sector.

Other fund management moves included Merrill Lynch Investment Managers hiring Paul Walton from ABN Amro as a senior investment strategist. Gartmore appointed Richard Baldwin as a senior research analyst in its credit research team, while Schroders appointed Stephen Greene as an investment analyst in its hedge fund business. Greene joined from International Asset Management, the alternative investment group.

David Gamble, former head of pensions at British Airways, emerged as a non-executive director in charge of the private equity business at Gartmore, the UK investment group.

Abingworth Management, a European private equity life sciences specialist, hired Joe Anderson to manage its portfolio of quoted investments. Anderson joined from First State Investments, where he founded the global health and biotechnology fund.

Cantor Fitzgerald recruited Dan Davies as a senior vice-president in sales and trading for its institutional equities group in London. Davies joined from Lansdowne Partners, the London-based hedge fund where he was head of trading.

In debt, Royal Bank of Scotland poached Vincent Dahinden, head of collateralised debt obligations at Merrill Lynch. Ravindra Joseph, head of structured products at Morgan Stanley's European securitisation business, left the firm after 19 years. Sources in the securitisation markets said he is to pursue 'personal interests'.

Barry Murphy, a technology, media and telecoms analyst at Bear Stearns, left the bank for a second time. Murphy left Bear Stearns in late 2001 and rejoined the bank in mid 2002. He is understood to have returned to his native Ireland.