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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n