Gotta healthy appetite for risk? Backers of Lord Jacob Rothschild and Richard Horlick, the former head of investments at Schroders, certainly have.
Spencer House Capital Management, their asset management boutique set up last year, has seen rather better-than-expected demand for its new Kazakh quasi-hedge fund — formed as a joint venture with a local Kazakhstani manager called Visor Holdings.
Against an earlier target of $200m, Tau Capital has raised $250m and will list on AIM in London on Wednesday as a closed-end fund. It plans a mix of public and private equity investments, and will deal in “special situations” — which might be wide-ranging, given the locale.
While the Kazakhstan economy is the main focus, Tau’s managers will also be looking at Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan.
Tau’s chairman will be Philip Lambert, who has a long history in European pensions. Robert Brown, chairman of Russia’s largest internet portal, Ramler Media, will join as a non-exec. The venture’s Kazakh partner, Visor, is said to be one of the leading asset management businesses in Kazakhstan, grabbing what is described as a “substantial” share of the emerging domestic mutual fund market.
Tau’s target investment size will be in the $10-$30m range.
