Greg Dyke joins VC firm

Greg Dyke, who left his post as director general of the BBC in January, has accepted a position at private equity firm Apax Partners.

Dyke will serve on Apax's media advisory board examining deals including a possible bid for Big Brother producer Endemol. The board is chaired by former Merrill Lynch media analyst Neil Blackley.

Given that the group reportedly prepared a bid last year for Carlton and Granada, before they merged to form ITV, and that Sir Peter Burt, chairman of ITV, is an advisor to Apax's financial services group, some speculate Dyke could be looking to arrange a move for ITV or even BBC Worldwide.

Apax specialises in media - over 20 per cent of its €4bn European fund is dedicated to media deals - but also invests in telecoms, IT, healthcare and retail.

Earlier this year Apax bid for UK newspaper publisher the Telegraph Group but the deal was won by the Barclay brothers.

Recent successes for the equity group include the float on the UK stock market of classified phone directories business Yell.