|
History of Prospect Capital and its Principals
(1994-Present) Prospect Capital was formed in late 2003 by the principals
of InterSecurities Ltd., Stuart Hamlyn and Bill Belhumeur. InterSecurities
is a ten year old broker-dealer firm, which was initially a member
of the Interfin Group of companies, serving an extensive network
of professional hedge fund investors. Prospect Capital continues
the mission of the Interfin Group, helping offshore and domestic
institutions and large family offices place capital with outstanding
hedge funds. We have always maintained a strict focus on alternative
investments and have developed significant expertise in the domain.
We have assisted investors with research, diligence and acquiring
capacity in hedge funds of varying strategies, sizes and locations.
In the mid 1990s, the Interfin Group consisted of a U.S. based advisory
firm (Interfin Corp.), a Geneva based advisory firm (Interfin Management
S.A.), and a Nassau based broker-dealer, InterSecurities Ltd. InterSecurities
was established in 1996 as an SEC registered, NASD member firm intended
to collect certain revenues earned by the group through hedge fund
transactions, while the group's other member firms concentrated
on advisory services and asset management. Initially, the investor
concentration of the Interfin Group was European and other offshore
investors - typically banks, asset management firms, fund of funds,
and other financial intermediaries. We were also effective at serving
large and sophisticated family offices in Europe who were experienced
at hedge fund investing but needed research support to uncover new
investment opportunities. Progressively, in the late 1990s and early
2000s, we expended our client base to include U.S. based family
offices, fund of funds, and institutions. We frequently have advised
the institutional consulting firms and multi-family asset management
firms on their alternative investments - as these allocations have
increased in recent years, and such firms recognize the need for
acquiring greater expertise in this growing asset class. In 2002,
we broadened our experience by participating in direct asset management
through our partnership with Olympius Capital, a San Francisco based
fund of funds. This highly concentrated fund of funds had remarkable
success securing capacity in top-tier closed hedge funds. We have
served on the Investment Committee of Olympius Capital and continue
to serve on the Board of Directors of the funds. This partnership
allowed us to provide our clients with access to some of the most
sought after closed hedge funds in the world and has opened up many
new opportunities to acquire capacity. As we launched Prospect Capital
in late 2003, we recognized that our firm's role must continue to
adapt as our industry continues to evolve. While hedge fund investors
will always seek assistance locating outstanding funds and vetting
potential investments, the huge inflows of new capital have resulted
in a supply of capital that greatly exceeds the capacity of established,
quality managers. Since this new reality forces investors to seek
investments with smaller, emerging fund managers, the challenge
of finding outstanding funds among the roughly 8,000 in existence,
is far greater than ever before - creating an increased need for
Prospect to assist our clients with the research and vetting process.
As a result, we have broadened our role to include advising investors
on earlier stage hedge funds and even seeding opportunities. We
look forward to expanding our team and our service offering - attempting
to continue to meet the needs of our growing industry without ever
losing our focus and expertise.
|