Marcus launching own hedge fund

Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Author: RBR.com

Wall Street veteran Drew Marcus is exiting Deutsche Bank at the end of this year to launch his own hedge fund in the media sector in 2009. Sugarloaf Rock Capital will not be a private equity fund, so don’t look for Marcus to invest in start-ups or buyouts. Rather, he’s planning to amass a portfolio of liquid securities.

“It’s a good time to put fresh capital to work in the media sector,” Marcus told RBR/TVBR.

While most hedge funds specialize in stocks, bonds or distressed debt, Sugarloaf Rock Capital will look at investment opportunities in all three. Essentially, Marcus explained, he’s looking for good companies with bad capital structures. His firm will invest in whichever part of that capital structure looks to offer a good return.

Marcus isn’t disclosing just how much capital he expects to raise for his hedge fund. However, he said the seed capital is already in place.

RBR/TVBR observation: There is certainly no shortage of distressed debt, beaten down stocks and bonds trading well below their face value in radio, TV and other media. With his years of experience, first as and analyst and then as an investment banker in the media space, Drew certainly has the expertise to evaluate true values and identify bargains. Even so, he may need a few cases of Maalox to help make it through the market gyrations we’re likely to see in the months ahead!