The former head of Mount Kellett’s European operations has launched his own firm and embarked on raising £500m.
Nick Weber has set up River Marsh Capital Management following his departure last month.
The former co-head of Goldman Sachs’s special situations business is a respected investor in distressed real estate markets and as a result has been able to raise equity quickly.
Weber is understood to have already gained more than £200m of commitments from investors and will soon begin investing into the European real estate market.
The new fund is expected to have an opportunistic strategy, in line with Weber’s approach in his former posts.
This would see the fund investing in distressed direct assets as well as making indirect investment, such as junior notes of defaulted CMBS loans and other debt positions.
The funds previously managed by Weber have focused on turning assets around quickly in order to enhance returns.
He is now looking to build a team in order to invest the capital being raised.
Mount Kellett had aimed to diversify risk associated with the running of its business by investing in both the property and oil and gas sectors.
However, the poor performance of its oil division affected the running of the whole company. As a result it was forced to seek the assistance of US hedge fund Fortress Investment Group in May, which invested $200m (£129m) into its funds and became a co-manager.
