Marks and Spencer chairman Sir Stuart Rose has been appointed to private equity firm Bridgepoint’s European Advisory Committee.

It is the first role Rose has taken since announcing he would leave the retailer. He steps down in January. Rose is also a non-executive director of Land Securities and chairman of Business in the Community.

Bridgepoint owns art and crafts retailer HobbyCraft after buying it this year for more than £100m. It also backs Fat Face. It sold Pets at Home to KKR in January for £955m in one of the biggest private equity retail deals in years.

Rose said: “Bridgepoint is one of Europe’s leading private equity groups and a major investor in retail. I am greatly looking forward to working closely with the team and providing consumer insight for their investments.”

Bridgepoint managing partner William Jackson said: “I’m delighted that Stuart is joining Bridgepoint as an adviser. He’s had a fantastic business career and has unparalleled experience in the retail world where Bridgepoint has made substantial investments over the years. It will be great to have him on the team.”