Old Hill Partners, a Darien, Conn.-based fixed income hedge fund, is planning to expand its commercial mortgage-backed securities platform and derivatives business. To this end, the company has hired Brian Schwartz, a former managing director and CMBS trader at RBS Greenwich Capital.
As part of this shift, the company has promoted Jason Libby to head its structured finance group and focus solely on whole loan and other collateralized financing investment opportunities. Old Hill Partners has five funds under management and generally focuses on short-duration investments. It is also considering entering the collateralized debt obligation space to securitize its whole loans and other collateral. This, however, would likely be a "market-driven event depending on where spreads are, but could definitely be an option," a firm official said.
Schwartz was hired to develop the shop's ability to go long and short, including total-return and credit-default swap trades, and investing throughout the entire credit stack in old and new CMBS issues. He left RBS Greenwich in April.
