Bloomberg – Colonial First State, Australia’s biggest asset manager, may seek an alliance with a hedge fund to offer customers a strategy capable of profiting in rising or falling markets.

The manager of about A$130 billion ($103 billion) has A$4 billion of client money in five boutique funds. Sydney-based Colonial started the alliance business in 2002 to broaden the range of strategies offered and has tie-ups with firms such as the Al Gore-backed Generation Investment Management LLP.

“We don’t have anyone who specializes in absolute returns,” Graham Hand, Colonial’s general manager of funding and alliances, said in an interview in Sydney. “If we can get the right idea working, that would compliment what we’re doing. So we’re looking at a few possible deals in that space.”

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Tags: absolute-returns, al-gore, alliances, asset-manager, australia, boutique funds, client money, colonial first state, compliment, hedge fund, investment-management, rsquo, sydney, tie ups, ups

Norwalk Advocate- A California firm that provides financial assistance to companies has chosen Westport to locate its first East Coast operation.

Seeking to expand its operations to lucrative Greater New York and Fairfield County, San Francisco-based Business Capital, a provider of commercial turnaround services, has opened an office at 191 Post Road West in Westport.

The goal is to build a stronger East Coast presence, as banks tighten lending standards and firms turn to nontraditional financing, said Chuck Doyle, managing director of the firm.

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Tags: al-gore, bridget, clout, earnings, justice-department