The Blackstone Group is starting up a European collateralized debt obligation business based in London and hired a staffer to spearhead the effort. Debra Anderson, CDO portfolio manager at Intermediate Capital Group in London, will join the private equity giant in September. Anderson, who has left ICG, declined comment on her role and responsibilities. Dean Criares, head of the U.S. CDO group at Blackstone, also declined comment.
With its move, Blackstone joins a number of managers setting up a CDO business in Europe. Prudential Financial, Highland Capital Management and GoldenTree Asset Management are already targeting such efforts.
ICG is a London-based, publicly traded mezzanine investment manager which has already acted as collateral manager on a half-dozen outstanding CDOs; it also sold the first European CDO, Eurocredit I, in 1999. Anderson was at ICG for two years and has worked in leveraged and acquisition finance lending for ten years. She reported to Andrew Phillips, head of the CDO team at ICG. He did not return calls by press time.
