The former head of European collateralised debt obligations at Wachovia Securities has launched a new structured finance asset management firm with a team from the US bank, in what is the latest of a clutch of new specialist debt investment firms to have emerged.

Neil Basu, who ran Wachovia's European CDO business for less than a year after joining from Nomura International in December 2006, founded Pearl Diver Capital last year, although the firm was authorised in January by the Financial Services Authority.