Toby Wyles, a senior partner at Apax who has led Apax' buy-out team since the mid-1990s, is to leave the firm and the private equity industry for personal reasons.

Wyles said: "I'm in my mid-40s. It's not a bad time to think, 'it's a big world out there'. I have a little bit of money in the bank, I'm staying with Apax until May then taking the summer off and see what happens."