Anchorage Capital Group, a New York-based start-up run by former Goldman Sachs bank debt honchos Kevin Ulrich and Tony Davis, has begun to take in money from outside investors. The firm launched its Anchorage Capital fund in July with a roughly $100 million seed investment from Reservoir Capital Group, said officials familiar with Anchorage and Reservoir.
Ulrich previously ran Goldman's proprietary distressed bank debt desk and also ran distressed bank debt trading. Davis was head of bank debt research at Goldman and was previously co-head of the firm's distressed bond business until fall 2002. The pair left the firm last spring (LMW, 3/9). Ulrich declined to comment.
The Anchorage Capital fund invests in various types of debt instruments as well as equities with a focus on leveraged issuers and special situations in North America and Europe, one official said. The fund pursues both directional and hedged strategies and also maintains a separate short book. Anchorage is seeking to cap the fund at $300-400 million so that it can invest in smaller situations. Reservoir is run by Daniel Stern, who worked for two family offices that seeded such giants as HBK Investments and Och-Ziff Capital Management. Stern declined to comment.