Chidem Kurdas
Blackstone Group raised $2.4 billion for its second hedge fund seeding vehicle and started to deploy the capital in the past months. So far, $200 million has gone to two managers. One of them is a commodity manager.
One can’t read too much into that one selection. Blackstone is likely to spread the $2.4 billion among a wide variety of strategies. The other fund that recently received seed capital is in long/short equity.
But this commodity hedge fund investment is part of a multi-pronged move into commodities. Blackstone’s private equity and fund of hedge funds portfolios contain other commodity-related investments as well. This month the private equity arm announced a commitment to invest as much as $1 billion to acquire and develop shale gas and oil resources via Alta Energy Partners. Oil and natural gas explorer Alta Resources provides the expertise.
The fund of funds business is the largest worldwide and retains a lead over competitors. It continued to gain market share with a net inflow of $3.1 billion in the first quarter, Blackstone chief executive Stephen Schwarzman said at a recent conference call. The quarter’s inflow is equal to inflows in the whole of 2010, he said.
Tags: Alta Resources, Stephen Schwarzman
HedgeFundSmarts 
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