US-based fund manager Babson Capital has expanded its footprint into the Asia-Pacific region, setting up a Sydney-based mezzanine group.
US-based investment management firm Babson Capital Management has set up an eight-member team of investment professionals, including two former AMP Capital Investors staff.
The team will focus on investments in mezzanine debt and equity securities of middle-market companies located primarily in Australia and New Zealand, as well as select developed countries in Asia including Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.
Shane Forster and Adam Wheeler have been appointed as managing directors of the Sydney team, sharing portfolio management and investment sourcing responsibilities.
They join Babson Capital from AMP Capital Investors, where they managed more than $700 million in Asian and Australian mezzanine and private debt investments.
Elliott Wong and Adrian Ng, director and associate director of the Sydney team respectively, previously joined Babson Capital when the firm assumed management of a $200 million mezzanine debt portfolio it managed for an affiliate of Babcock & Brown.
The four other members of the Asia-Pacific investment team are based in Asia and the US.
"The Asia-Pacific region offers attractive opportunities for profitable mezzanine investing due to the region's strong economic outlook, increasing demand for mezzanine as a source of buyout financing, and a pullback by traditional investors in the marketplace as a result of the global financial crisis," Babson Capital managing director Michael Hermsen said.
"Babson Capital is well positioned to capitalise on these opportunities with a team that has both deep experience in mezzanine and private equity investing and the established relationships with private equity sponsors that are needed to generate significant deal flow."
Babson Capital recently received its Australian financial securities licence.
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