Martin Finegold, K.V. Prabhakar and Robert Kramer, all well-known veterans of the European asset-backed securitization business, will launch a mortgage-backed securities hedge fund. The fund will invest in U.S. and European MBS and may be among the first to buy distressed assets. Size has not been set, says Prabhakar.
The fund will be an ancillary business to Finegold's new collateralized debt obligation shop, Cambridge Place Investment Management, which he started in January. London-based Cambridge Place will create CDOs of ABS, says Prabhakar.
Prabhakar says the fund will buy distressed mortgage assets that would not be included in the firm's CDOs of ABS. The CDOs bottom limit will be mostly triple-B. "There is a fair amount of opportunity in Europe and not many mortgage funds looking at distressed pieces," he says.
In addition, Cambridge Place plans to roll out its first CDOs. Prabhakar says the firm will originate deals in Europe as well as the U.S. The U.S. deals will be managed out of Cambridge Place's Boston office, which is run by Kramer, the former co-head of fixed income at Fidelity Investments.
Kramer also worked as an MBS/ABS trader at Goldman Sachs with Finegold. He joined Cambridge Place in January. Prabhakar also joined Cambridge Place in January and will head its London office. He had been head of Deutsche Bank's ABS syndicate desk in London from 1998 to 2001.
Finegold was an ABS trader at Goldman in London. He left to found Kensington Mortgage Co., now an active issuer of U.K. sub-prime residential mortgage-backed securities.
