Structured Portfolio Managers alumni form Nara Capital

By Olivia Oran

(Reuters) - A team of managers from fixed income hedge fund Structured Portfolio Managers are starting a new firm called Nara Capital Partners, co-founder Charles Smart said.

Smart, who managed SPM's Structured Servicing Holdings fund for the past six years, is leading Nara Capital alongside former SPM head of global marketing Alex de Calice.

New York-based Nara, which will launch its Nara Capital Master Fund in March with $150 million to $200 million in capital, will invest in both commercial and residential mortgage-backed securities.

Former SPM portfolio managers Joe DeGregorio, Munish Gupta and Frank O'Neill are also joining Nara.

Risk manager Qian Yang and chief technology officer Kyle Johnson also join from SPM.

The firm was seeded from a European investor that it declined to name.

SPM, founded by Don Brownstein and specializing in U.S. mortgage-backed securities, manages more than $2 billion.

The Structured Servicing Holdings fund produced returns of 4 percent in 2015, 10.5 percent in 2014, 4.2 percent in 2013 and 28.1 percent in 2012.

Raising money for hedge funds is becoming increasingly tough as investors withdraw cash and complain about costs and complexity.

The third quarter of 2016 saw the lowest number of new funds since the beginning of 2009, according to Hedge Fund Research Inc. The total of 578 in the first nine months of the year was a sharp drop from 785 of a year earlier.

(Reporting by Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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