Lazard UK Investment Banking (Lazard) has launched a new team, Lazard Venture and Growth Banking, and appointed Garri Jones and Nick James as Managing Directors in the company’s UK investment banking business.
Jones and James will formally start their new roles in January from Numis, where they ran a ventures practice together.
The Lazard Ventures and Growth Banking team will focus on the private growth equity and venture capital markets, connecting growth businesses with its large global investor base. The team will work with Lazard’s Capital Markets and sector M&A teams as part of an integrated Investment Banking Advisory effort.
Lazard created the team as a response to, and in anticipation of, a large numbers of market factors that are driving the demand and supply of private capital. Such factors include more companies staying private for longer and a rise in larger later-stage deals that the growth equity market is funding. The nature of these deals means that the investor base is international and highly-fragmented, requiring inter-mediation in order to ensure the best outcomes for stakeholders.
The team will comprise of 10 industry professionals, including a mix of data scientists, bankers, engineers and entrepreneurs.
William Rucker, Lazard UK Chairman, says: “The team will build on Lazard’s established public equity franchise and leverage Lazard’s global network to provide companies with greater access to capital markets and financial advisory advice throughout their life cycle. Garri and Nick will bring a different perspective and set of relationships that will broaden the firm’s access to global capital providers and complement and strengthen our global advisory capability.’’
