Something curious happened last week. I left a message for John Studzinski on his voicemail, but he didn't return my call; neither did he respond to a follow-up text message. The veteran investment banker, who told me recently that he 'likes to keep lines open', had disappeared into the secretive world of private equity.
Studs, as he is known to friends and colleagues, had been relatively accessible for a high-flying financier, but last week he started working for Blackstone, the US corporate advisory and private equity house, after a three-year stint at HSBC. 'No, he is not giving interviews,' said the group's spokesman in London. 'Everyone is asking, but it's not happening.'
One of the most colourful and well-connected deal-makers in the Square Mile, Studzinski has a wide circle of friends - Lord Browne of BP and Niall FitzGerald, chairman of Reuters, to name but two leading industrialists. He is also a patron of the arts, a supporter of numerous charities, including his own Genesis Foundation, which sponsors young playwrights and composers.
No wonder he wines and dines with the likes of Sting, Mel Gibson and novelists PD James and Ken Follett. He is even said to have a line into the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Kent. 'Few bankers have a social network such as Studs,' said a former colleague. 'But he is unmarried and has more time than those of us with families. Studs is as free as a bird, and he likes it that way.'
A complex, but engaging personality, Studzinski made millions as European head of investment banking at Morgan Stanley, but he is also a philanthropist who founded the European arm of Human Rights Watch. A devout Catholic, with a chapel in his Chelsea home, he finds time at a weekends to work in soup kitchens and shelters for the homeless. Four years ago, Pope John Paul II made him a Knight of the Order of St Gregory.
'He takes his charitable work very seriously, it is not just for show or effect,' a friend says. 'He comes across as someone with principles.'
But a former colleague says: 'No one can take away the fact that John likes to give to good causes. But he seems to crave the limelight, he is not someone you would find lurking in the background.'
Boston-born Studzinski enjoys the good life too. There was that party in Salzburg in March, when he invited 100 guests to celebrate his 50th birthday at the Leopoldskron Palace, which was used as the Trapp family residence in the The Sound of Music. The accompanying fireworks display was said to have been the biggest ever staged in Austria. Inevitably, some locals complained about the noise, but later even Studzinski himself was left wondering if the affair had been too ostentatious.
Back in London, there is still the mystery about why he left HSBC in May after being lured there from Morgan Stanley by Sir John Bond in 2003. Bond, the chairman of HSBC until this summer, took on Studzinski to do what no other British high-street clearing bank has ever done: build, almost from scratch, an investment banking arm that would be at the forefront of global mergers and acquisitions advisory work, advising the country's biggest companies about strategy and international expansion and helping to raise new equity where necessary.
But Studzinski made it clear that HSBC would do things organically. There would be no big acquisition, no mega-merger with Merrill Lynch, despite rumours to the contrary.
Instead, he lured people from rival banks on big salaries and, in some cases, guaranteed bonuses, raising eyebrows in a sector where rewards are more usually predicated on performance. HSBC spent up to $400m a year on the investment banking business, but progress was slow, and competitors were quick to point out that the bank was still winning far fewer mandates than rivals. Studzinski told me before he left HSBC: 'This is a long-term project, it is not something that can be achieved overnight, but we have made a fantastic start.'
So why did he leave before the job was done? We will probably never really know, but there was talk of a clash between Studzinski and Stuart Gulliver, a force to be reckoned with at the bank; he had grown HSBC's Asian arm - dealing with derivatives, foreign exchange and debt-trading - into the powerhouse it is today. But he had to share power with Studzinski when the two became joint heads of the group's global investment banking arm. Studzinski concentrated on mergers and acquisitions, while Gulliver focused on trading.
One source said: 'The problem was that Gulliver made the money, while Studs spent it. In the end, when Bond was close to retiring, Gulliver saw his chance and recruited new chairman Stephen Green to his view that things were not working out. From that moment, Studs was dead in the water.'
But that view of events is disputed by HSBC insiders who say that Gulliver and Studzinski worked well together. 'There was no back-stabbing or rancour at all; that's all a bit of a myth,' says a bank source.
HSBC executives have gone out of their way to reassure investment bankers in Studzinski's unit that they are still committed to the project. They point out that Studzinski is retained as an adviser to HSBC's board.
But HSBC is not Studzinski's problem any more - and he may be grateful to be out of it. A former colleague says: 'Studs is great at "meet and greet", and executives tend to trust him. At Blackstone, I am sure that he will open doors and win the firm new business - it won't be like HSBC, where he also had to worry about running a big office.'
Private equity and investment banks are developing closer contacts these days, so perhaps it is no surprise that top flight bankers such as Studzinski are making the move. Last week, it emerged that Scott Mead, former star deal-maker at Goldman Sachs, is joining the board of Apax.
At Blackstone, a big push is on to expand a business often rumoured to be on the look-out to buy UK companies. It already owns, among other things, Center Parcs and the London Dungeon.
Studzinski's brief is to expand the merger and acquisitions side, recruit more bankers on both sides of the Atlantic and open an office in London. In a statement, he would only say that he was 'looking forward to the challenge'. But if the past is anything to go by, he is sure to make waves. It would be a shame, though, if he maintains radio silence, depriving us of his wit and charm.
The CV
Name John Studzinski
Born Boston, US, 1956
Education 1974-78 read sociology and biology at Bowdoin, an American liberal arts college; 1980 MBA from the University of Chicago
Career Joined Morgan Stanley, stayed for 23 years, emerging as head of investment banking, Europe; 2003-2006, joint head of investment banking, HSBC
Interests Cooks at the Passage, a homeless shelter in London's Victoria. Trustee of the Tate; gives £1m a year to charity; founder member of Human Rights Watch