The prize for silliest name of the week goes to the newly baptised HgCapital, formerly Mercury Private Equity. The firm was forced to change its moniker by Merrill Lynch Investment Management, which wanted to retain the old Mercury name when it sold the private equity arm to its management. HgCapital, which is supposed to evoke the chemical symbol for mercury, as well as the idea of 'high growth', is the un-euphonius result of a competition for name suggestions, with a sailing holiday as a prize (see Village, 2 January 2001). The firm received over 600 entries, six of which suggested the Hg name. These six went into a hat and the holiday winner, Richard Boot of KPMG, was drawn during what was apparently a rather jolly party thrown last week by newly appointed chairman Leonard Licht and chief executive Ian Armitage. The other five received magnums of champagne.

However, one source at the firm said that the periodic table Hg was not actually the favourite mercury suggestion among the staff, which preferred the older name for the element - Quicksilver. Managers rejected that much more appealing option as 'too colloquial and flashy'. But perhaps it was the association with 'get rich quick' they were worried about. In the private equity industry, that might be too close to the bone.