PROVIDENCE – Thomas Gahan, 46, most recently CEO of Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and head of its corporate and investment banking in the Americas, has joined Providence Equity Partners Inc. as the president of its new Capital Markets Group, the private-equity firm said today.

Gahan – who joined Deutsche Bank in 1999, to establish its Global Credit Products effort, and went on to build the firm’s capability in leveraged and structured finance into market-leading businesses – also had served the German company as global head of capital markets and a member of its executive committees on Global Banking and the Global Markets.

“Tom brings world-class experience building and successfully managing capital markets businesses, particularly in credit investing, where he has worked to finance some of the most successful and sophisticated transactions in history,” Providence Equity CEO Jonathan Nelson said in a statement today.

“We know Tom well, having worked with him over many years and transactions,” Nelson said. “We believe that [he] is the ideal person to lead our growing Capital Markets Group.”

The just-established group “invests in the debt of media, entertainment, communications and information companies” Providence Equity said in a statement today. Those are the same sectors on which the firm has focused since its inception two decades ago. “With Tom on board, we are now well positioned to capitalize on the opportunities created by the unprecedented volatility and dislocation in the market,” Paul Salem, a senior managing director of Providence Equity.

The firm has “recently invested significant capital in attractive corporate debt securities and continue to see significant credit market opportunities across the industries where we specialize,” Salem added. Providence Equity “has recently acquired over $2.5 billion in credit securities,” the firm said in a statement.

Gahan is a 1984 economics graduate of Brown University. Before joining the Deutsche Bank staff, he had worked at Merrill Lynch for 11 years, most recently as Global Head of Credit Trading within the Fixed Income Division.

“This is an exciting opportunity for me to help take the credit investment activities of one of the world’s premier private equity firms to the next level,” he said today.

“The Providence team’s unparalleled knowledge of the global media and communications industries will be invaluable as we invest in these same areas,” Gahan continued. “We will employ the same discipline in our credit investing that has driven Providence’s long-term success in private equity.

“I look forward to working with the entire Providence team as we expand the platform over the long term.”

Providence Equity Partners Inc. is a global private investment firm – based in Providence, with offices in Los Angeles, New York City, London, Hong Kong and New Delhi – that has about $22 billion in equity commitments. The firm has invested in more than 100 companies, operating in nearly two dozen nations, since its founding in 1989. Additional information is available at www.provequity.com.