Jim Thompson, former president and CEO of ORIX USA, announced the launch of Preston Hollow Capital. Thompson serves as the founder, president and CEO of the new investment company. He recently announced plans to leave ORIX and launch a new business.

Preston Hollow Capital is located in Dallas. Among the firm’s initial strategies will be fixed income, private equity, venture capital and alternative investing.

Launching with more than $100 million in committed capital, Preston Hollow Capital is also considering opportunities to partner with major sponsors, including institutional investors such as endowments and pension funds, as well as family offices and sovereign wealth funds.

“Today’s global financial markets present an attractive period in which to launch a non-bank investment platform. With the new restrictive banking regulations and the acceleration of the economic recovery, the investment opportunity set is robust,” Thompson said. “Preston Hollow Capital’s objective will be to produce outstanding risk-adjusted returns across a broad spectrum of investment strategies. We see attractive opportunities in current financial markets that are reminiscent of the beginning of the ORIX journey in 1990, when a colleague and I brought to ORIX the idea of starting a company that would securitize commercial mortgages (CMBS), which at the time was a novel concept. Over the intervening 22 years, our nascent effort in the CMBS business became the company that is today ORIX USA.”

Thompson continued, “ORIX Corp. proved to be a good sponsor and partner. Over a 22-year period, we invested across the spectrum of fixed income credit and acquired a series of operating businesses, including Houlihan Lokey, RED Capital and Mariner Investment Group. In 2012, in response to emerging opportunities in life sciences, we created a division, ORIX Health & Life Sciences to invest that sector. The principle that I used to guide the ORIX USA investment strategy is the same that will be employed at Preston Hollow Capital. That principle emphasized investment activity across a broadly defined opportunity set and the employment of team-based investment professionals with strong generalist skill sets.”

Preston Hollow Capital anticipates 2014 hiring to include more than 25 people with diverse financial, investment and portfolio management backgrounds, Thompson said.