Evolution's founder takes back seat

RICHARD Griffiths, the colourful 38-year-old founder of controversial investment bank Evolution - most recently in the news over bombedout oil explorer Regal Petroleum - has quit as executive chairman.

Griffiths is stepping back from running the corporate financier and Beeson Gregory stockbroking house after a shake-up of the company's management by its senior non-executive director Lord MacLaurin, the former Tesco boss.

Griffiths is to take the post of president although an ongoing role of "focusing on key client relationships and business developmentî will see him report to his junior partner in the formation of Evolution, Alex Snow, the former Harlequins rugby player who remains chief executive.

It has been at the centre of a string of scandals, most recently as adviser to Regal Petroleum, which admitted wells off Greece were all but empty just weeks after Evolution helped it raise £45 million from investors.

Evolution shares have collapsed by a third in the last eight weeks.