Cambridge Place and William Pears Group launch European debt opportunity fund

Two private investment firms have joined forces to buy structured debt investments in Europe via a new closed ended vehicle which is being seeded with €50 million of equity.

Cambridge Place Investment Management and William Pears Group’s Talisman Global Asset Management have launched the Talisman, CPIM European Debt Opportunity fund.

In a statement, the pair said the five-year vehicle had been seeded with €50 million ($80 billion) of capital commitments and would target net returns of 12 to 15 percent by investing in European commercial mortgage backed securities, residential mortgage-backed securities, and asset-backed securities.

The pair said it had set up the fund to benefit from current market dislocations witnessed in the European markets.

Martin Finegold, chief executive at Cambridge Place, said: “These are difficult markets in which there remains a lot of risk, however with risk comes opportunity.”

Cambridge Place employs 90 people in London and Boston and has grown assets under management to €5.2 billion since being established in 2002. Talisman is the family office of the Pears family which owns investments and properties with a value of more than €7.5 billion.