HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Hatteras Funds has acquired a controlling interest in Alternative Investment Partners, LLC, a Harrison, NY-based provider of open end mutual funds of hedge fund strategies known as AIP Mutual Funds, increasing Hatteras Funds and its affiliated companies’ AUM to approximately $1.6 billion.

The two mutual funds of hedge fund strategies, the Alpha Hedged Strategies Fund (ALPHX) and the Beta Hedged Strategies Fund (BETAX) provide financial professionals with access to alternatives that have all the client-friendly features of a mutual fund, including daily liquidity, no lock-ups, no accreditation requirement, no performance fees, and 1099-tax reporting.

David B. Perkins, CEO and founder of Hatteras Funds, will become Chief Executive Officer of the company, which will be rebranded under the Hatteras umbrella and operate as the mutual fund division within Hatteras Funds upon investor approval of the transaction. Lee Schultheis, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Strategist of AIP Mutual Funds, will remain with the company as President of this division. Mr. Schultheis, along with Asset Alliance Corporation, an original investor in the company, will continue as significant shareholders.

“AIP Mutual Funds is an ideal fit.” said David B. Perkins, Chief Executive Officer of Hatteras Funds. “AIP Mutual Funds had a stroke of genius when it created the structure of these funds, which allow a wider range of individuals to access alternatives. In a post-Madoff world, these mutual funds of hedge fund strategies are a tool for financial advisors to allocate to alternatives while meeting increasing client demands for liquidity and transparency.”

The strategies provide financial professionals with access to alternatives that have all the client-friendly features of a mutual fund, including daily liquidity, no lock-ups, no accreditation requirement, no performance fees, and 1099-tax reporting. The funds actually have a unique structure that allocates assets to a variety of hedge fund managers who run the capital in a separate account from their hedge fund – so the funds do not hold actual shares in a hedge fund. This is how they get around the lock-up and liquidity issues associated with hedge funds.

ALPHX and BETAX may also invest in smaller capitalized companies, foreign securities, securities limited to resale to qualified institutional investors and shares of other investment companies that invest in securities and styles similar to the funds, resulting in a generally higher investment cost than from investing directly in the underlying shares of these funds. Additional information will be filed with the SEC, the company said.

Alex Akesson

Editor for HedgeCo.net
alex@hedgeco.net

HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds!

Tags: alliance corporation, alpha hedged strategies fund, alphx, alternative investment, chief executive officer, chief investment strategist, client demands, controlling interest, david b perkins, financial professionals, funds of hedge funds, harrison ny, hatteras, hedge fund strategies, investment-partners, performance-fees, schultheis, stroke of genius, ups, west palm beach

Forbes – Gottex Fund Management Holdings Ltd has bought a controlling interest in SJC Capital Partners, a U.S.-based investment management firm.

The fund of hedge funds provider said SJC founder and Chief Investment Officer Stephen Czech and his team would join Gottex’s New York operations with immediate effect.

Read Complete Article

Tags: capital-partners, chief-investment-officer, controlling interest, czech, forbes, fund-of-hedge-funds, gottex fund management, holdings ltd, investment management firm, york operations

West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – After being awarded $2.5 billion in allocation for investment in private equity, hedge fund manager Finvest Asset Management, announced the launch of a private equity initiative. Finvest is also separately dedicating $300 million to a fund of funds.

The $2.5 billion capital allocation to Finvest is being made by a European family office seeking to increase its exposure in the private equity space.

Targeting companies which are listed on the main boards in Northern American and European markets, the fund will seek to allocate capital to between 25 and 100 companies, with each allocation ranging in a value of between $10 million and $250 million.

The new fund’s time horizon will be between 3-5 years, although liquidity will be an important criterion assessing risk. Companies below a $200 million market capitalization will not be discounted, however, the fund will be favorably disposed towards companies with higher market capitalization levels, and which exhibit a high percentage of outstanding shares. The model which is being applied by Finvest is slightly different to the typical private equity structure, which generally would consider stakes in private companies which are not listed and perhaps seek to extract value through an IPO.

The team at the Finvest Private Equity fund indicated that their due diligence turn around period is quite aggressive. "While we are not looking to cut corners on due diligence, we are looking to fast track the allocation process, so that we can take advantage of a market which has been beaten to shreds," said Finvest portfolio strategist Mayer Greenwald.

"We do not have an agenda to take control or necessarily secure a controlling interest in the firm. We typically would base an interest in a company on the fact that management know what they are doing, and understand their area of endeavor better than others. Our philosophy is to provide company management with additional capital, and give them the opportunity to continue running with the ball. Obviously, we appreciate regular feedback on progress or challenges which are being faced in the industry," Greenwald concluded.

Alex Akesson

Tags: capital allocation, controlling interest, due diligence, equity hedge, equity initiative, equity structure, european markets, greenwald, hedge-fund-manager, hedgeco, launch, market capitalization, outstanding shares, palm-beach, portfolio strategist, private equity fund, risk companies, shreds, time-horizon