Boutique manager snares Challenger execs

International Mezzanine Funds Management (IMFM) has recruited two formerChallengerexecutives including former managed investments director Martin Ashe as its new managing director of its Australian operations.

Also transitioning across is Jenny Cole, a former colleague of Ashe’s who has previously worked on the Challenger Howard Mortgage Trust as part of her role as product manager, income products.

In her new position with IMFM Cole will assume the role of manager, business development.

After the official opening of IMFM’s Australian operation in Sydney last week, new managing director Ashe says the group is poised to launch its first domestic product - the Australian Mezzanine Income Fund - and is going through licensing processes.

“We are launching an unregistered scheme for institutional investors probably within the next month,” Ashe says.

IMFM has outsourced its responsible entity requirements to Fundhost Limited, along with its lending administration and origination services to a number of partner mortgage trusts. The group will however continue to perform the investment management functions in-house.

The IMFM group, which was set up in Singapore, has a number of mezzanine lending funds throughout the Asian region, particularly in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.

The group is 75 per cent Singapore owned, and Ashe says he will work closely with the investment team based in the Asian republic to drive IMFM’s push into the Australian domestic space.

In other appointments, IMFM has also recently announced the signing of former Lend Lease staffer Bruce Berry onto its Australian board.