Bloomberg- Fortress Investment Group LLC, the private-equity and hedge-fund manager overseeing $40 billion, plans to start a commodities hedge fund after energy, metals and agriculture prices climbedto records.
The Drawbridge Commodities Fund will be managed by William Callanan, according to the fund’s marketing documents. Fortress and its employees will invest a “significant” amount of capital in the fund, the documents said.
“Commodities are getting more and more mainstream,” said Omar Kodmani, a London-based portfolio manager at Permal Group, which invests $35 billion in funds. “Investors are still interested in the asset class; we’re not just in a short-term bull market.”
Fortress is expanding into booming commodities as its shares have been pushed lower by concerns that rising credit defaults in the U.S. will damage prospects for investment companies. The stock has dropped 6.8 percent since a Feb. 8 initial public offering.
Lilly Donohue, a spokeswoman for New York-based Fortress, declined to comment on the fund.
