Man who quit JPMorgan for £30k academic job returns to finance

A former JPMorgan investment banker, who was involved in a high-profile divorce from one of Germany’s richest women, has returned to the financial sector with a new private equity company.

Nicolas Granatino, who worked for JPMorgan’s investment bank from 1995 until 2003, when he quit for a £30k research position at The University of Oxford, has co-founded Ansurance Ventures LLP, a private equity firm which has been running since 2012, but which only received FCA approval in December 2013.

Granatino was thrust into the limelight in 2006 during a landmark divorce settlement with Katrin Radmacher, a German paper company heirness with an estimated fortune of £100m. The couple married in 1998 – having initially met in a swanky Mayfair nightclub – and signed a pre-nup, in which Granatino agreed not to claim if they separated.

However, he later said that he had no idea of Radmacher’s wealth at the time of their marriage, and sought no legal advice over the agreement.  He was initially awarded £5.85m after a long and acrimonious court case. Later, however, the prenuptial was upheld and Granatino’s settlement cut to £1m as a lump sum in lieu of maintenance.

Ansurance Ventures appears to be connected to Andurand Capital Management, the commodities-focused hedge fund run by Pierre Andurand, a former oil trader at Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. There are just two registered employees – Granatino and compliance officer Maria Douloubakas.

Granatino was painted as someone who quit a high-pressured job in the City in order to pursue his passion while being supported by a rich spouse. From 2003-2009 he studied biotech and agbiotech at Oxford, for a fraction of his salary at JPMorgan, while living in a £7,000 month flat in Knightsbridge paid for by Radmacher.

However, he has been involved with a number of recent business ventures in the last two years. As well as Ansurance, Granatino has been a director of app development firms Invideous, Cronyle and Contentment, which focuses on simplifying content for social media users.