Fredrick Fellows, the former head of structured finance at Southwest Securities, announced the launch of a commercial real estate debt securities firm called Basalt Capital.
The group is an offshoot of Cargan Investment Management, which Fellows formed in 1999. Upon inception, Basalt went out with a $500 million high yield CMBS oriented investment fund and expects to close its first deal within the next few months. The group will also open up a Florida office in the near future.
Fellows began his career at Nomura Securities International in 1993, working in the CMBS new issuance group and later as the head of CMBS trading. In 2001, he joined Southwest Securities in the high yield CMBS and ABS trading platform.
Basalt is the name of a common volcanic rock rich in magnesium and iron,used to fortify concrete. It was chosen to signify the groups rock solid focus, according to the firm.
