Cambridge Place Investment Management has recruited Stephen White as chief investment officer for Europe from Morgan Stanley, where he was a managing director in the securitised products group.

White, who joined Morgan Stanley's London office in 1996, was responsible for the distribution and syndication of all asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities across Europe. He was recently also appointed co-head of mortgage origination and execution, working with Europe's largest and most frequent issuers.

Previously he was a senior portfolio manager for Neuberger Berman between 1993 and 1996. From 1985 to 1993, White was a portfolio manager at the Pilgrim mutual fund group, where he managed more than USD1bn in US mortgage-backed securities.

Cambridge Place says White's experience on the buy-side and sell-side both in the US and across Europe will be invaluable as the organisation develops products such as the closed-ended five-year Talisman/CPIM European Property Debt Opportunity Fund.

The Talisman/CPIM Fund has been established to invest in a range of European commercial and residential mortgage-backed securities, other types of asset-backed securities and other forms of real estate financing, enabling investors to benefit from the current market dislocations in Europe. The fund has been seeded with capital commitments of EUR50m and is targeting a net annual return of between 12 and 15 per cent.