Lazard has assembled a team of 10 investment bankers to focus on high-growth companies in Europe, the latest effort by an advisory firm to tap into the increasing demand for private capital in the region.

The new team will be led by former Numis investment bankers Garri Jones and Nick James, who will sit in Lazard’s UK investment banking business. The division is called venture and growth banking, and will work with the firm’s capital markets and mergers and acquisitions bankers to advise companies on raising funds away from the glare of public markets.