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5 Nov 2009

Weston Capital Management and Harcourt AG Launch an Incubation Joint Venture Hedge Fund

HedgeCo Archives - Independent alternative investment group, Weston Capital Management LLC and Zurich-based Harcourt Investment Consulting AG, have joined in a strategic alliance to seed and develop new hedge fund businesses via Weston Capital’s incubation platform.

The alliance will combine Weston’s extensive experience in early stage hedge fund investing and marketing with Harcourt’s proven investment expertise in global manager selection, due diligence and risk management.

"Through our collaboration with Harcourt, we will further expand our seeding platform with a valuable institutional long-term partner that brings enormous alternative investment expertise to the table. The partnership brings the strengths of each organization together to form a robust and far reaching strategic incubation business,” said Albert Hallac, Chairman and Founder of Weston Capital Management LLC.

Since January 2004, Weston Capital’s hedge fund seeding platform (via the Weston-Atlas Partners Fund and the Weston Capital Partners Fund II) has provided sponsor capital for 13 emerging hedge fund managers. Weston intends to close Partners III, its third incubation fund, at $250 million, with Harcourt providing investment infrastructure and risk management.

Stephan Fritz, CEO of Harcourt said: “Seeding and incubation is a highly specialized field in the area of hedge fund investing. We are pleased to combine our institutional investment process with a leading firm in the seeding space, and we look forward to a successful strategic collaboration.”

HedgeCo Confirms Report On Expansion And New Hires

HedgeCo Archives - Hedge Fund Alert reported this week that the fund-marketing arm of HedgeCo Networks is hiring again as it gets ready to open offices in Naples, Fla., and San Diego.

After cutting staff over the past 18 months, HedgeCo also recently added to its staff in West Palm Beach, Fla., HedgeCo Securities, which also plans to hire two or three marketers for each of the two new offices, which it intends to open in a couple of weeks, HedgeCo can confirm.

HedgeCo Securities is expanding after the signing of new clients, including SeaBreeze Partners, the Palm Beach, Fla., firm led by CNBC commentator Doug Kass. His shop’s SeaBreeze Partners Long/Short Fund has about $125 million under management.

The firm hosted a New York conference on Oct. 13, 'Starting A Hedge Fund In The Post-Madoff Era', organized by Andrew Schneider and Hedgeco Networks. 220 managers, investors and service providers came together at the U.S. Trust Building to hear Joe Goldstein and Ron Geffner, among others, discuss the future of startups in the hedge fund industry.

HedgeCo Networks, founded by Evan Rapoport and Andrew Schneider in 2002, also has an office in New York. The parent company offers a variety of hedge fund services, and its HedgeCo Securities unit conducts third-party marketing and capital-introduction services. It also introduces prime brokers to prospective fund-management clients.

On Nov. 10, HedgeCo Securities is holding the Fall 2009 Capital Introduction Round Tables, also in New York, with the goal of putting investors together with six fund managers.