Anthony Clemente has started a new private investment firm, Canaras Capital Management. As first reported on Credit Investment News' Web site last Tuesday, the firm is expected to look at investing in loans, high-yield bonds, emerging market credits and potentially credit derivatives. It currently has a mandate, according to a market source. Clemente, ceo, and Alan Chao, portfolio manager, will manage the CDOs the firm will raise.
Clemente, the former head of the bank loan and global collateralized debt obligation group at INVESCO Senior Secured Management, has been operational with Canaras for a few weeks. Clemente declined comment. Chao is a former INVESCO colleague and joins six other INVESCO alums, including Clemente, at the firm. These individuals include: Benjamin Steger, senior investment analyst, Maria Jones, chief operating officer, Ursula Corpancho, operations specialist, Raffi Jamgotchian, chief information officer, and Susan DeMonte, executive assistant. Two other employees include, senior investment analysts Umberto Serrano, who joined from Standard & Poor's, and Andrew Heller, who joined from Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, according to that source.
Clemente left INVESCO in April 2005 after a rival firm tried to bid away some of the key men in INVESCO's CDO funds and as a condition to staying at INVESCO, some of the portfolio managers requested Clemente not continue in his role (LMW, 4/22/05).
Before joining Chancellor LGT, INVESCO's predecessor in 1998, Clemente worked at Merrill Lynch Asset Management for more than eight years. He was a co-founder of Merrill Lynch's Prime Funds, which was one of the first mutual funds to invest in loans.
After Clemente left INVESCO, Gregory Stoeckle took over his responsibilities as head of the bank loan group.
