GlobalReach Securities, a new investment firm, is poised to complete mezzanine financing for a €200 million office and retail portfolio in northern Germany.

Such an investment would bring the value of the firm's entire portfolio to over €550 million. The business is led by Paul Phelan, who formerly worked for financier Dermot Desmond.

The company said in a statement yesterday that it had raised €7 million from a group of high net worth private investors. The fundraising implied a value on the business of more than €20 million, GlobalReach said. However, a spokesman declined to identify the investors.

The business has begun trading with more than €350 million in assets under management from private investors, credit unions, pension funds and overseas institutional investors.

"Given the increase in private wealth in Ireland over the past decade and the huge increase in private investors on the Irish Stock Exchange, there's now a clear opportunity for a new asset management and stockbroking company to challenge the traditional players in the market," said Mr Phelan.

A former director of Mr Desmond's company IIU Asset Strategies, he was chief executive of Quay Capital Management before joining GlobalReach as managing director. The existing operations of Quay Capital Management and foreign exchange brokerage will both reverse into GlobalReach. Other executive team members who are also investors include Philip McEnroe and Vincent Dodd - both formerly of Private Wealth Managers - and Martin O'Sullivan, formerly of Dolmen Securities.