Second big name quits RAB in the wake of punt on Rock

Beleaguered RAB Capital, the hedge fund that appears to have dropped a fortune on Northern Rock, has lost its second director within a month.

Days after a shock profit warning, chief salesman Rod Barker has quit for rival Renaissance Capital. Dapper Barker, 43 and a divorcing father of three who has been appearing in the gossip columns after it was revealed he is stepping out with former TV weathergirl Tania Bryer, has been RAB's highest-profile director after the founders Philip Richards and Michael Alen-Buckley.

He joined two years ago from CSFB, where he was head of prime brokerage - the part of an investment bank that deals with hedge funds. He had previously spent 15 years at Morgan Stanley, where he had risen to a similar position.

As director of business development and distribution, Barker was in charge of enticing institutions and the world's rich to park their money in RAB funds.

But the performance of those funds, whose investors include steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, Britain's richest man, has been poor in recent weeks, leading the firm to admit its profits this year will stagnate.

Most embarrassing for the firm has been its high-profile bet that it could make money from the Northern Rock fiasco. RAB is reckoned to have punted more than £70 million on a recovery at the Rock, an investment that so far has cratered.

Barker's departure follows the decision of one of RAB's top stock-pickers, Schehrezade Sadeque, to quit the firm's board.

She indicated that working at RAB had meant her "work-life balance" had got out of kilter, and she had decided she wanted to spend more time with her family.