Investment banker who floated Eurotunnel quits City

David Freud, the investment banker who floated Eurotunnel and helped save National Air Traffic Services from collapse, is to quit the City.

One of the best-known financiers in the Square Mile and in the transport sector, Mr Freud, 53, is to retire as vice-chairman of investment banking at UBS in December after 20 years with the company.

A former financial journalist on the Lex column of the Financial Times, Mr Freud began his City career in 1984 with SG Warburg Securities, as it was then known. The company was subsequently taken over by the Swiss Bank Corporation, which was in turn re-named UBS.

Apart from Eurotunnel, Mr Freud also brought British Airways, Railtrack and easyJet to the stock market and helped mastermind the financial rescue of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in 1998. But he said his most satisfying deal was last year's restructuring of Nats, the operator of the UK's air traffic control system.

Mr Freud said he did not intend to take on another full-time job in the City but would like to use his trouble-shooting skills at other companies in difficulty. He said he had no regrets about leaving the City but noted the way the Square Mile had changed in the last two decades. "It's a relief to have had a long career and not ended up in jail given the current environment," he said.