HedgeWeek – New York-based SkyBridge Capital, which provides strategic capital to new and early-stage hedge funds, and Australia’s Challenger Financial Services Group have announced a long-term strategic relationship to launch the first global institutional hedge fund seeding and alternative investment management platform.
Under the transaction, which is expected to close in the second quarter of this year, Challenger will make a significant capital commitment to the existing SkyBridge funds and will support SkyBridge in penetrating new markets in the Australasia region to source both new capital as well as talented hedge fund managers.
Challenger will make available to SkyBridge its investment and due diligence team, and the Australian firm’s principal executive officer for balance sheet asset management, Richard Howes, will become a member of the SkyBridge investment committee.
‘Over the past two years, we have built SkyBridge Capital into one of the leading strategic investors in new hedge fund managers, and today SkyBridge and its underlying managers have around USD1.5bn under management,’ says managing partner Anthony Scaramucci.
‘Our new relationship with Challenger, an established participant in the Australian financial services sector, will allow us to extend our ability to source top managers globally, broadening the depth of our talent pool.
‘Also, through Challenger we will have a significant new distribution channel in Australia, positioning our partnership to capitalise on the current and expected growth of alternative asset investments there.’
