Oppenheim’s investment involves just over 1% of its overall E 136 billion in assets under management. Of Oppenheim’s E 136 billion total assets, £6.3 billion is managed by their Swiss subsidiary.

The in house hedge fund is part of a push at Oppenheim’s Swiss bank into investment banking under Siegfried Piel, a partner in the Swiss subsidiary.

Other private banks such as EFG International, which last week saw its CMA Global Hedge PCC Ltd. raise $402 million in an initial public offering. Vontobel Holding AG, bought a large stake in hedge fund house Harcourt last year, and larger banks such as Swiss giant UBS, have financed hedge funds within their operations as a way of stemming defections of key executives and traders for hedge funds.

Shares at Oppenheim are up in price at period end 2006, at E 81.90, compared with last years E 65.32.

Alex Akesson
Contributing Writer
HedgeCo.Net
Email: Editor@hedgeco.net