12/15/2010

Investcorp Backs Launch by Ex-Ramius Team

Three former Ramius Capital staffers are set to launch a hedge fund next month with backing from Investcorp.

After leaving Ramius in June, portfolio manager Bob Kaynor established Ballast Capital of New York. He was soon joined by two of his former colleagues from Ramius: portfolio manager Mason Stark and consumer-stock analyst Joanna Wald.

Kaynor and his partners are now laying the groundwork for a long/short equity fund. They recently landed an undisclosed seed investment from Investcorp, a Bahrain-based asset manager serving wealthy clients in the Middle East. Earlier this year, Investcorp relaunched its hedge fund-seeding business, which went dormant after the financial crisis. The firm typically invests $50 million to $100 million per manager.

Kaynor spent seven years at Ramius, which last year was acquired by boutique investment bank Cowen Group. Before that, he worked at Barbary Coast Capital of San Francisco. Stark, whose father, Morgan Stark, is a Ramius co-founder, previously worked at Granite Capital of New York.