Baird Rebrands Funds to Clear Up Confusion: UPDATED

Confusion is a bad thing in private equity and venture capital.

Today, Robert W. Baird & Co. is attempting to provide some clarity regarding all its different funds.

Baird’s direct private investment arm will now be known as Baird Capital, and include all of its PE and VC pools, says Angela Pittman Taylor, a firm spokeswoman. Previously, the fund unit was known as Baird Private Equity. That’s gone now, she says.

Baird will continue to operate four distinct funds that will be renamed under the Baird Capital banner, Taylor says. “Hopefully this will simplify things going forward,” she says. Taylor admitted that there was confusion “across lots of different levels” regarding all the different Baird funds. UPDATE: Taylor later told peHUB that it was challenging across different audiences — which included investors, intermediaries and reporters — to “help them understand how the funds were connected to the broader platform and its resources.”

The name change includes Baird Capital Partners, which is the firm’s U.S. private equity funds. Baird’s last U.S. PE pool, fund V, collected $290 million in 2010.

Baird Venture Partners is also disappearing. The firm’s prior venture pool, its third fund, raised $171 million in 2008.

Baird Capital Partners Europe was actually Baird’s U.K. private equity fund. Confusing right? This pool, Baird first U.K. PE fund, collected 204 million Euros in 2005, Taylor says.

Baird Capital Partners Asia, which seems pretty easy, is actually an Asian growth equity fund. This pool, Baird’s first in the segment, closed on $72 million in 2008.

“We will continue to have those four funds, but now we’ve just simplified how we talk about them to all fall under Baird Capital,” Taylor says.