Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Citadel Investment Seeks $1 Billion for Global Macro Hedge Fund

By Saijel Kishan

Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Citadel Investment Group LLC, the Chicago-based asset-management firm founded by Kenneth Griffin, is seeking about $1 billion for a new global macro hedge fund, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The fund is set to be managed in London by Kaveh Alamouti, 54, whom Citadel hired this year from New York-based Moore Capital Management LLC, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. Citadel oversees $20 billion.

Macro funds, which attempt to profit from broad economic trends by trading stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities, gained an average of 3.7 percent this year through July, according to data compiled by Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research Inc. All funds lost an average of 3.4 percent.

``Citadel is as good as they get,'' said Tammer Kamel, president of Toronto-based Iluka Consulting Group Ltd., which advises clients on investing in hedge funds. ``They have a reputation that will ease the current difficulties that hedge funds face in raising capital.''

Doug Holt, a Citadel spokesman, declined to comment.

Investors have slowed new commitments to hedge funds this year amid the worst credit markets since the 1930s and a 16 percent drop in world stock prices. Funds raised $29 billion of new cash in the first half, compared with $118 billion in the same period last year, according to Hedge Fund Research. The industry manages about $1.9 trillion.

Citadel, which Griffin started 18 years ago, trades everything from equities to energy to weather futures. It also makes markets in stocks and equity options and invests in other hedge funds.

Hedge funds are private, largely unregulated pools of capital whose managers can buy or sell any assets, bet on falling as well as rising asset prices and participate substantially in profits from money invested.

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Lunch is for wimps

Lunch is for wimps
It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another.