Capital Z Investment Partners, LLC has invested in a European-based hedge fund for the first time - Sanctum FI, LLP.

The London-based hedge fund management company focuses on fixed income relative value strategies managed by Antony Mayhew and Jeremy Corn and currently has approximately USD 40 million in assets under management.

"We are extremely excited about the prospects for our investment in Sanctum," said Laurence Cheng, CEO of Capital Z. "This investment represents an opportunity for our organisation to back a team of partners with proven investment experience and a well-established business. In addition, Capital Z has been actively seeking exposure to fixed income relative value strategies as well as to European-based managers."

Sanctum chief investment officer Mayhew, added: "We sought out a partnership with Capital Z as a way to accelerate the growth of our organization. We think the timing is apropos given our current views on the market for our strategy. There are significant investment opportunities in our style of relative value fixed income trading, especially given the level of expected government supply for the foreseeable future."

Before co-founding Sanctum in 2003, Mayhew was CIO at Bipielle where he actively managed a hedge fund that employed a strategy similar to Sanctum. And prior to his position at Bipielle, he established proprietary trading operations at Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers International Europe. Mayhew began his career in 1982 at Louis Dreyfus, where he traded fixed income securities.

Corn, Sanctum's chief financial officer, spent 19 years in fixed income sales and management positions, principally at Lehman Brothers International Europe, where his positions included managing Sterling fixed income sales and European fixed income sales. Prior to this, he qualified as an actuary whilst working at Prudential Assurance Company.

Bakground notes: Established in 1998, Capital Z is one of the largest dedicated institutional sponsors of alternative asset managers with USD 2.25 billion under management. Capital Z focuses on sponsoring next-generation hedge fund and private equity fund managers. Over the last 9 months, Capital Z has sponsored three hedge fund management businesses, including BTN Partners, LLC, a quantitative long/short market neutral hedge fund management firm, and Cedarview Capital Management, LP, a long/short high yield credit-oriented hedge fund management firm, in addition to Sanctum.