Lord Rothschild, the veteran City figure who is part of the banking dynasty, has agreed to back Darwin Private Equity, a new £250m private equity group founded this year by a trio of youngprofessionals from CVCCapital and Permira.

RIT Capital Partners, the publicly traded investment trust that is 17 per cent- owned by Lord Rothschild, will take a "significant minority" stake as well as making a £50m cornerstone investment in its maiden fund of up to £250m.