Man Group plc's capacity buy-in spree continued this week with the acquisition of 25 per cent of BlueCrest Capital Management from its principals for GBP 105 million.

The acquisition is part of Man's stated strategy of continuing "to access high quality managers with a material amount of additional capacity." As part of the deal, Man will receive preferential access to available capacity from BlueCrest.

The part cash/part shares acquisition (based on Man's closing share price on 24 November 2003) is being funding by Man from existing resources,

London-based BlueCrest is one of Europe's largest hedge fund groups, managing USD 3.1 billion in fixed income and currency strategies. It has 50 staff and is owned by its management. Its core fund, BlueCrest Capital International Limited, is a fixed income arbitrage fund with USD 2.4 billion under management and a compound annual return of around 16 per cent since inception in December 2000.

The Blue Mountain Credit Alternatives Fund was launched on 1 November 2003 and will invest in structured credit as well as adopt credit arbitrage strategies. It has funds under management of USD 0.3 billion and is managed out of a newly set-up New York office.

Merrill Lynch acted as financial adviser to Man, and Goldman Sachs International  acted for BlueCrest.

copyright hedgeweek 2003