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NEW YORK CITY-GSC Partners has started a new fund that will focus on US commercial real estate back high yield debt and mezzanine investments. This comes on the heels of the firm starting a hedge fund and taking its REIT public earlier this year. To head up the unnamed fund, the firm has appointed Alexander K. Zabik to serve as head of high yield real estate. He will be a portfolio manager for the new fund. In his most recent position, Zabik was a senior member of BlackRock Inc.'s real estate debt group as well as a member of the investment committee and investment strategy group.

"This new high yield real estate product leverages GSC's core competency in complex credit analysis and skill at evaluating mortgage and real estate-backed securities," explains Alfred C. Eckert III, chairman and chief executive of GSC Partners. No dollar amount has been attached to the fund as of yet.

Earlier this year, GSC announced the formation of a hedge fund designed to make debt and equity investments in distressed markets. It involves long, short and arbitrage strategies and will capitalize on opportunities resulting from the firm's efforts in control distressed debt. Also in January, GSC Capital Corp., a REIT formed last year by GSC Partners, filed the paperwork for its initial public offering. The firm anticipated raising up to $200 million.