General Investing >> Money Manager Interviews >> August 22, 2011
Alim Kassam is the Chief Executive Officer of Rama Capital Partners, LLC, and the President of Athas Capital Group, Inc., both companies that he co-founded. Mr. Kassam began his career as an Investment Banker with Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., where he worked with private equity firms to source and finance leveraged acquisitions and to develop strategic alternatives for their existing portfolio companies. He also worked with global industrial companies across a range of corporate finance projects including mergers and acquisitions, all branches of debt offerings/underwriting, and public and private equity offerings. Mr. Kassam then joined CapitalSource Finance, LLC, where he focused on making secured debt and mezzanine investments in health care companies. After CapitalSource, he joined Pacificor, LLC, where he was the Senior Credit Analyst focusing on stressed, distressed and special situations credit opportunities. Over his tenure, Pacificor's returns outperformed the high yield indices by over 10% per year and the firm's assets under management grew to $600 million from $200 million. Mr. Kassam then joined Quality Home Loans, the nation's largest equity-based residential mortgage lender, as its CEO one week after the company filed for Chapter 11 protection. In addition to managing the day-to-day operations of the company, he was responsible for navigating the bankruptcy process and architected a $167 million securitization. Mr. Kassam serves on the advisory boards of LoanMLS, Inc. and iVision Mobile, Inc. He graduated cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a B.A. in business economics and a minor in accounting. Profile
TWST: Please give us a background of Rama Capital Partners.
Mr. Kassam: Rama Capital Partners is the managing member of our fund, The Rama Fund, which is a private mortgage fund. We lend nationwide
