Cicero Capital Partners

What Cicero Capital Partners does

Mariner Investment Group, LLC is a privately held, 100% employee-owned alternative investment management firm founded in 1992 by William Michaelcheck. Headquartered in New York with eight offices globally, the firm operates a multi-manager, multi-strategy platform that allocates capital across 25+ specialized portfolio management teams — most notably Bright Meadow (mortgage and consumer securitized products, ~$4.0B AUM as of May 2026) and Cicero (seasoned commercial mortgage-backed securities, joined March 2023). The platform's core technology is a diversified fixed income relative value architecture that tactically allocates between uncorrelated alpha sources, underpinned by a risk-management framework emphasizing risk-adjusted returns, UN PRI-compliant sustainability integration since 2013, and decades of proprietary securitized credit and CRE capital markets analytics.

The firm serves institutional investors — pension funds, endowments, foundations, family offices, sovereign wealth funds, and private credit allocators — through separately managed accounts, commingled funds, and standalone vehicles. It generates revenue via recurring management fees and performance allocations on multi-year contracts, with fees negotiated bilaterally rather than publicly disclosed. Distribution is entirely direct enterprise: senior portfolio managers and a thought-leadership content engine (News & Insights, white papers, an Investor Portal at dynamo.dynamosoftware.com) drive institutional sales and retention, with no intermediaries, retail channels, or app-based distribution.

Name

Cicero Capital Partners

Legal name

Mariner Investment Group, LLC

Website

https://cicerocapitalpartners.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Mariner Investment Group is a privately held, 100% employee-owned alternative investment manager founded in 1992, running $10.3B AUM across 25+ fixed-income and securitized credit strategy teams serving pension funds, endowments, family offices, and sovereign wealth funds globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Columbia

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Alternative Investment Management: Mariner generates revenue through management fees and performance fees (carry) from managing multi-strategy hedge funds, separately managed accounts, and collective investment vehicles. The firm offers strategies across fixed income relative value, securitized products, and other alternative investment approaches for institutional clients.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Mariner Investment Group manages alternative investment strategies for institutional clients, deploying a multi-strategy, multi-manager fixed income relative value platform that allocates capital across specialized teams (Bright Meadow for securitized products and Agency MBS; Cicero for seasoned CMBS). The firm runs flagship multi-strategy hedge funds, separately managed accounts, and collective investment vehicles that invest across both public and private markets.

Product overview

Mariner Investment Group is an alternative investment management firm offering a multi-strategy platform that encompasses Fixed Income Multi-Strategy, Relative Value, and Securitized strategies. The platform provides diversified investment offerings through specialized investment teams including Bright Meadow Team (focused on mortgage and consumer securitized products with approximately $4.0 billion AUM) and Cicero Team (specialized in commercial mortgage-backed securities). The firm manages strategies across both public and private markets through its 25+ strategy teams.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Cicero: Investment team within Mariner focused on seasoned CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities). Led by Bob Neighoff and Evan Kurtz. Joined Mariner on March 1, 2023.
• Bright Meadow

Products and services

• Mariner Multi-Strategy Platform Diversified fixed income relative value platform that tactically allocates capital between uncorrelated alpha-focused portfolio management teams; flagship offering for institutional investors seeking risk-adjusted returns across public and private markets.
• Cicero Team (Seasoned CMBS) Specialized investment team within Mariner investing in seasoned commercial mortgage-backed securities with approximately 2-3 years until maturity; offers daily price discovery, transparency, and liquidity as an alternative to private credit. Led by Bob Neighoff and Evan Kurtz.
• Bright Meadow Team (Agency MBS & Securitized Credit) Specialized investment team consisting of credit, prepayment and structuring specialists generating alpha across mortgage and consumer securitized product markets; manages approximately $4.0 billion in assets across evergreen and hedge fund-style strategies (as of May 1, 2026).
• Multi-Strategy Fund Flagship multi-strategy hedge fund investing across both public and private markets.
• Fixed Income Multi-Strategy

Quantifiable outcome

• $10.3 billion AUM managed across multiple strategies
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Cicero Team (Bob Neighoff and Evan Kurtz)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2023The Cicero Team, led by Bob Neighoff and Evan Kurtz (Lead Portfolio Managers), joined Mariner on March 1, 2023. The team has a long history of investing in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and other commercial real estate capital market opportunities, bringing decades of expertise and extensive CRE capital markets relationships to the Mariner platform.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Apollo Global Management: Mega alternative asset manager (~$700B+ AUM) with extensive credit and structured finance capabilities. Competes for institutional mandates across the same allocator base as Mariner but at much greater scale and product breadth.
• Ares Management: Public alternative asset manager (~$450B AUM) with a major credit franchise including securitized products and direct lending. Competes for institutional fixed income allocations and serves as a public-market benchmark for alt managers like Mariner.
• Blackstone Credit (formerly GSO): Credit arm of Blackstone managing ~$300B+ across direct lending, mezzanine, and securitized products. Direct overlap with Mariner's securitized and credit strategies, embedded within the largest alternative platform globally.
• Oaktree Capital Management: Large alternative investment manager (~$200B+ AUM) with substantial credit and structured finance strategies. Overlaps with Mariner in securitized credit and CMBS but at materially greater scale as a public company within Brookfield.
• Western Asset Management: Major fixed income manager (~$400B AUM, owned by Franklin Templeton) with deep MBS and securitized product capabilities. Overlaps with Bright Meadow on securitized products but operates at materially greater scale across traditional fixed income mandates.
• PIMCO: One of the largest active fixed income managers globally (~$2T AUM), a subsidiary of Allianz. Overlaps with Mariner across fixed income RV, MBS, and credit strategies but with vastly greater scale and brand recognition in institutional channels.

Direct peers

• Brigade Capital Management: Multi-strategy credit-focused hedge fund manager with overlapping fixed income relative value, leveraged credit, and securitized product mandates serving institutional investors. Closely comparable business model and target client base to Mariner.
• TPG Angelo Gordon (Angelo Gordon): Multi-strategy credit and alternative fixed income manager with comparable scale (~$73B AUM at acquisition by TPG). Operates similar credit, securitized, and relative value strategies for institutional clients and was acquired by TPG in 2023 in a transaction valuing it at $2.7B.
• Marathon Asset Management: Alternative credit manager with securitized products, asset-based finance, and private credit strategies. Directly comparable to Mariner's securitized and CMBS-heavy mandate mix and institutional client base.
• DoubleLine Capital: Independent, employee-owned fixed income manager (founded by Jeffrey Gundlach) specializing in mortgage-backed securities and multi-sector credit. Highly comparable to Mariner on ownership structure, fixed income focus, and securitized product expertise.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cicero Capital Partners