Sector developments and company hires

Highland trio launch new firm
Ex-Highland Capital Management executives Mark Okada, Jack Yang and Trey Parker have launched Sycamore Tree Capital Partners, an asset management firm specialising in private and alternative credit. Okada will serve as ceo, Yang will serve as president and head of business development, and Parker will serve as cio. John Muse and Ken Hersh are strategic investors in the firm's initial fund launches and will also serve on the management company advisory board to help shape long-term strategy.

The firm's initial strategies will include traded credit, structured products and special situations. Sycamore Tree's launch is funded by its co-founders and the firm is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an office in New York City.

Okada was previously co-founder and cio of Highland Capital Management. Yang was managing partner at Highland Capital Management and most recently, head of the Americas and global head of business development at Alcentra Group. Parker was a partner at Highland Capital Management and held a number of key leadership roles, including co-cio and portfolio manager.

In other news…

EMEA
SCIO Capital has appointed three Deutsche Bank alumni to its newly-founded advisory board. SCIO’s founding advisory board members are: Oliver Wriedt, founder of HighKey Catalyst; Ganesh Rajendra, managing partner at Integer Advisors; and Carole Sanz-Paris, head of debt capital markets at IDB Invest.

The creation of the advisory board follows the launch in May of SCIO’s most recent closed ended-fund offering, SCIO European Secured Credit Fund III. The board will advise SCIO’s senior management on strategy, market trends, business development and governance.