San Antonio, Texas-based Vaquero Global Partners has launched its maiden hedge fund, seeking to exploit opportunities in emerging markets credit.

The Vaquero US EM Credit Fund was backed by hedge fund seeder Borton Hermeneutics, and employs a fundamentals-driven, multi-strategy approach to invest in emerging markets with an emphasis on corporate finance, including corporate debt, bank loans, distressed and local market securities. The fund currently has exposure to Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia, according to founder and portfolio manager Wilbur Matthews.

"We're long/short so we can exploit opportunities on both sides, which I think is important because a lot of people don't like emerging market credit if we're only long," said Matthews. "And we've seen quite a few good opportunities on the short side. By the same token, I think a lot of babies are going to get thrown out with the bathwater in the ongoing credit crisis and our goal is to have the capital to deploy when that happens. Having been in the market for as long as we have, we have a solid list of long investments and are playing it safe for the time being to ensure that we have the capacity to catch the baby."

In its first three months of trading, the fund returned 0.89%. It is currently managing a little over $10 million and charges a 2% management fee and a 20% incentive fee. Its minimum investment requirement is $250,000.

Prior to founding Vaquero last year, Matthews managed emerging market credit portfolios for AIG totaling over $1 billion.