Reuters- Malbec Partners Inc, a new hedge fund group founded by bond manager Fischer Francis Trees & Watts (FFTW), on Thursday said it expects to raise $1 billion for two new hedge funds,evidence that investor appetite for the $1.9 trillion asset class continues to be strong.
FFTW, a unit of France’s BNP Paribas SA that manages some $30 billion, said it has already put up some $200 million into the two new funds with parent BNP. One fund will specialize in emerging markets and the other in quantitative investment strategies, and each is expected to raise $500 million.
Malbec is headed by Jeffrey Trongone, former chief operating officer for activist hedge fund Third Point LLC, who has been with FFTW for about a year. Trongone, also a former managing director at JPMorgan Chase & Co. said he will shortly disclose two new veteran hedge fund portfolio teams for the quant and emerging markets funds.
The new launches are evidence that institutional investors haven’t lost interest in hedge funds, particularly quant strategies. Quants’ mathematics-based investment approach stumbled badly in the market downdraft in August, but many have since recovered.
Trongone said he is committed to providing suitable transparency to investors in the funds, a strategy designed to appeal at a time when some hedge funds have collapsed or suffered major “drawdowns,” or negative returns, from undisclosed credit-based strategies in recent months.
