AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Amherst Holdings, LLC, a leading financial services provider to institutional investors in the mortgage sector, today announced that it has established a new Hong Kong subsidiary, Amherst International Limited (AIL). The company has been established to facilitate business with institutional investors throughout Asia and to leverage Amherst’s knowledge of fixed-income securities, particularly in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). Through its new subsidiary, Amherst is seeking to deepen its relationships with its global customers and provide them with even better access to its disciplined investment approach and leading analytics.

The establishment of Amherst International marks Amherst’s first international venture. AIL will be led by veteran banker Paul Kan, who will serve as the entity’s Managing Director. Mr. Kan joined Amherst from Lehman Brothers’ Hong Kong office, where he worked for several years as a Senior Vice President and the senior trader of Mortgage-Backed Securities and Securitized Products for Asia. While at Lehman, Mr. Kan was responsible for trading and coordinating the execution of MBS trades with Lehman’s New York trading desks. Prior to working at Lehman, Mr. Kan was a member of the Mortgage Trading Group at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where he structured and traded Agency and non Agency CMOs in New York. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Bachelors of Science in Mathematics and Political Science.

“Establishing a presence in Hong Kong is an important and exciting milestone for Amherst and one that we have been eagerly anticipating,” said Sean Dobson, Chief Executive Officer of Amherst Holdings. “We see a tremendous potential to grow our business in Asia and establishing a presence in Hong Kong gives us an important inroad into that market. Our clients in Asia will benefit from Amherst’s superior analytic research and our extensive experience with the RMBS market. Paul brings impressive fixed-income experience and an incredible knowledge of the investor landscape in Asia. In Paul, Amherst’s customers in Asia will find a dependable professional with extensive capabilities and access.”

From its office in Pacific Place Three on Queens Road East in Hong Kong, Amherst International’s initial focus will be facilitating securities transactions in the United States between Asian accounts and Amherst’s broker-dealer affiliate, Amherst Securities Group, LP. AIL has received licenses from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. The firm plans to hire additional sales people to serve customers throughout Asia, with a focus on China, Taiwan and Japan. The establishment of the Hong Kong company comes during a period of great momentum at Amherst, which has grown steadily over the past several months, having opened additional offices throughout the United States and attracting some of the top salespeople, traders and analysts in the RMBS sector to the firm.

About Amherst Holdings

Amherst Holdings is the holding company for several companies dedicated to assisting institutional investors in the US residential mortgage markets. The firm’s principal subsidiary, Amherst Securities Group, L.P., is a specialist broker-dealer with more than 15 years experience analyzing and trading residential mortgage-backed securities. Amherst’s experienced professional staff utilizes proprietary analytical tools to provide actionable intelligence to institutional clients that are seeking to understand and profit from the complexities and risks of the mortgage securities market. More information about Amherst can be found on www.amherstholdings.com.