A co-head of the commercial mortgage-backed securities group at Bear Stearns has resigned from the firm and plans to start a hedge fund. Jim Higgins, a senior managing director, quit recently and plans to launch a hedge fund that will buy CMBS and other real estate debt, according to sister publication Real Estate Finance & Investment.
Damon Caputo, Bear Stearns' head CMBS structurer, will join Higgins at the new firm, which does not yet have a name. Although the fund will focus mainly on CMBS, it also will buy B-notes, mezzanine debt and collateralized debt obligations, Higgins says. It will buy triple-A through noninvestment-grade CMBS.
Higgins, who was in charge of all CMBS trading and commercial real estate capital commitments at Bear Stearns, says he launched the fund because he saw opportunity for a hedge fund vehicle in the CMBS sector.
Christopher Hoeffel, senior managing director who co-headed the group with Higgins, was unable to comment by press time.
