Shore Capital Group, the independent investment banking group based in London, Liverpool, Frankfurt and Berlin, is to further expand its alternative assets and principal finance capabiliti
Shore Capital Group, the independent investment banking group based in London, Liverpool, Frankfurt and Berlin, is to further expand its alternative assets and principal finance capabilities with the intended launch of its latest fund in partnership with Lehman Brothers. Ralf Nocker has joined Shore from Bear Stearns to head the new opportunities team and manage the new fund.
Shore Capital aims to raise up to USD 500m for the Puma European Opportunities Fund, with Lehman Brothers to co-invest USD 50m.
Building on its 11 year track record in alternative assets and USD 3bn of assets under management, Shore aims to launch the fund to invest in a broad range of European opportunities across a variety of asset classes such as secured loans, real estate, and asset-backed cash generative businesses.
Shore expects to raise up to USD 500m for the fund, with a first close of several hundred million dollars; Lehman Brothers have precommitted USD 50m and are taking a 10% stake in the management company. Shore and its management are seeding the Fund with 5% of the amount raised.
Leveraging Shore Capital’s offices in Berlin and Frankfurt and the firm’s experience in Central and Eastern Europe, initial investments are expected to focus on these markets.
Shore Capital also revealed that Ralf Nocker has been recruited from Bear Stearns as Managing Director of Shore Capital International, to head up the Opportunities Team. Nocker will initially leverage Shore’s existing investment team in the UK and Germany, but the firm is actively recruiting and expects to announce more hires in due course. Prior to joining Shore, Nocker spent 2 years as Managing Director and Co-Head of Principal Investments at Bear Stearns, where he advised Shore’s Puma Brandenburg fund on the acquisitions of the Lurgi Haus in Frankfurt and the Hyatt Regency in Cologne.
Howard Shore, Executive Chairman of the Shore Capital Group, says: ‘The launch of the European Opportunities Fund with Lehman Brothers as a co-investment partner puts us in a great position to grow our alternative assets and principal finance business at a time of a changing market place and significant new opportunities.’
