Carlyle, Blackstone to Offer Hedge Funds

Buyout firms Carlyle Group and Blackstone Group are poised to offer hedge funds.

Blackstone hired Manish Mittal of Perry Capital in April to run a $1 billion hedge fund, and Carlyle is reportedly about to hire Ralph Reynolds, global head of proprietary trading at Deutsche Bank, to run its fund.

Certainly, earlier this year, Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein said the company was considering hedge funds. "Hedge funds offer a different kind of risk to private-equity funds," he said. The move, if realized, would be an about-turn for Carlyle, which sold its $600 million hedge fund to the principals in 2003.

Now, however, with competition in the buyout field rising, and $42.1 billion pouring into hedge funds in the second quarter alone, buyout firms are looking to diversify, International Herald Tribune reports.

"Why limit yourself to private equity?" said John Godden, CEO of hedge fund IGS Group of London. "From a commercial perspective, they are going to be able to raise more money and get more fees."

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.