(Pictured: Martin Donnelly)

Global advisory and capital placement firm FIRSTavenue has opened an office in Sydney and appointed Martin Donnelly as partner and head of the local operation.

Donnelly joined FIRSTavenue from Blackstone Alternative Asset Management, where he was managing director of the hedge fund solutions group Australia. He is still listed as such on the Blackstone website but joined FIRSTavenue on April 1, 2014.

FIRSTavenue was established in London in 2006 and now has offices in New York, San Francisco, Cleveland and Sydney.

It raises capital for alternative asset managers in private credit, private equity, real assets and real estate in developed and emerging markets. It has a global staff of over 50.

“I look forward to assisting the firm as it continues to build a strong and successful franchise, expanding their exposure to Australia and New Zealand,” Donnelly said in a statement but would not return calls to Investor Strategy News.

FIRSTavenue already represents a number of Australian managers to global investors and has also done the reverse, ie representing global alternative asset managers to the Australian institutional market.