Marathon Asset Management is to open a new office in Istanbul, expanding the New York-based firm's existing emerging markets capabilities and providing it with a strong presence for originating and executing future investment activities in the region, said HedgeWeek. Marathon's Istanbul office will be headed by Mehmet Budak, a director in the firm's emerging markets group who previously focused on private equity investments in the financial services industry and developing countries at the Carlyle Group. Earlier Mr Budak was part of the financial institutions group at Goldman Sachs and has been adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where he taught private equity investing in developing countries. Founded in 1998, Marathon has $20 billion in assets. The firm has 165 professionals specialising in debt, equity and real estate at its headquarters in New York and offices in London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Washington DC and Los Angeles.