Credit Suisse private fund group co-head steps down

Michael Murphy, co-head of Credit Suisse’s private fund group, is stepping down from leadership and leaving the bank, sources told Buyouts.

Going forward, David Klein will be sole head of the group, a source with knowledge of the bank said.

The question is where Murphy will end up. Sources speculated he is heading to an in-house fundraising role at a firm, but that couldn’t be confirmed. Murphy did not respond to a comment request over LinkedIn.

Another co-lead of Credit Suisse’s private fund group, Kevin Naughton, left the bank in 2019 and took an IR role with Grain Management.

Murphy joins a host of executives from the bank who have left over the past few months, amid a restructuring and the bank’s eventual rescue acquisition by UBS.

Late last year, Jeremy Duksin, global head of capital solutions, left the bank to join Robert W Baird & Co to lead its fledgling secondaries advisory function. Shortly after, Brian Williams and Jerome Wallace, co-heads of Credit Suisse’s Americas distribution, left the private fund group to join William Blair & Co.

Murphy has been at the bank since at least 1997, according to his LinkedIn profile. He co-led the private fund group alongside Naughton, and then Klein, who has been with the bank since at least 2003, his profile said.

Earlier this year, the bank was working on spinning out its investment banking and advisory group, led by banker Michael Klein. The bank acquired Klein’s boutique advisory firm, which would then spin out, renamed CS First Boston and eventually go public. The effort came as the bank was restructuring since last year to put more focus on its private wealth management and shrink investment banking, PEI reported earlier this year.

However, in March, the Swiss government asked its largest bank, UBS, to take over Credit Suisse as it teetered amid a run on the bank. UBS chose to unravel the spinout deal and decided instead to take on specific Credit Suisse executives.

Credit Suisse’s private fund group has been one of the biggest and busiest placement shops in the industry. PFG raised 441 funds with $636 billion in capital since inception in 1994, PEI reported earlier this year.

The placement agent and advisory group also has a dedicated capital solutions team, which has advised on approximately $68 billion of secondaries, direct and co-investment transactions, PEI reported.