The private equity firm set up Blackstone Altius Advisors in Hong Kong earlier this month and plans to launch the hedge fund in October with as much as $1 billion, three sources
told Bloomberg. Blackstone will initially invest $150 million in the fund. The new fund will seek returns from investing in Asian companies involved in mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies and reorganizations.
Blackstone has always been in sectors beyond private equity, as it is a player in real estate investing and has a large restructuring practice. Earlier this year, Blackstone paid nearly a billion bucks for hedge fund GSO Capital.
The firm has picked an odd time to expand into the hedge fund world. The credit crunch has hit hedge funds particularly hard, shuttering a score of fixed-income funds and severely dampening the ability of many to attract new investors. Investors put $16.4 billion with hedge funds in the first quarter of 2008, according to Hedge Fund Research Inc., the smallest inflow since the end of 2005, and roughly half the $30.4 billion they added in the fourth quarter of 2007. In the first quarter of 2007, hedge fund raised a $60.2 billion. -
George WhiteSee story from Bloomberg
