Billionaire property investor the William Pears Group has launched a €500m (£390m) debt opportunity fund to take advantage of current dislocations in the European debt markets.
Pears’ Talisman Global Asset Management has teamed up with Cambridge Place Investment Management to launch the co-managed Talisman/CPIM European Debt Opportunity Fund.
The fund has been seeded with €50m of capital commitments, half from each party, and will target a net return of 12% to 15%.
Talisman chairman Mark Pears said the fund would invest in a range of European asset-backed securities including commercial mortgage-backed securities, real estate, and residential mortgage-backed securities.
It will seek to raise equity from third-party investors, including institutions and high net-worth individuals in the coming months, which, together with a “modest level of gearing”, will bring the total size to €500m.
The fund will have a closed-ended five-year life.
