Financial services company Fund.com has acquired Weston Capital Management, an originator and distributor of hedge funds.
Founded in 1993 and headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, Weston Capital earns fees on assets exceeding USD1.0bn under management.
It has three lines of business: it originates and markets fund of funds; it originates and markets single-manager hedge funds; and it raises capital to seed new hedge funds.
In 2010, Weston Capital and Harcourt formed an alliance for investment manager identification and fund seeding. Harcourt, a USD4.5bn alternative investments manager that is majority owned by Vontobel Group, is an adviser of alternative investments for institutional investors.
Weston Capital founder Albert Hallac continues as chief executive of Weston Capital, directing its day-to-day operations and business strategy. In addition, Fund.com chairman Joseph J. Bianco will become chairman of Weston Capital.
Weston Capital also has offices in London and New York City.
Hallac and Fund.com chief executive Gregory Webster said in a joint statement: "We believe with the Weston Capital operations when aligned with Fund.com’s majority interest in AdvisorShares, a developer and marketer of actively managed ETFs, Fund.com will be able to significantly accelerate increases of assets under management since it now has the ability to seed, originate and distribute hedge funds as well as seed, originate, develop and distribute actively traded ETFs to institutional and retail investor."
AdvisorShares chief executive Noah Hamman (pictured) says: "Weston and AdvisorShares are perfectly complementary and we are looking forward to working with Weston to originate ETFs as well as help other managers launch their own ETFs and to market our actively managed ETFs to institutions worldwide with the expertise of Weston Capital’s established sales force. These activities will greatly expand our footprint in the rapidly growing market of actively traded ETFs."
Under the Harcourt alliance, Weston Capital and Harcourt will seed and develop new hedge fund businesses via Weston Capital’s incubation platform. The alliance combines Weston’s experience in early stage hedge fund investing and marketing with Harcourt’s expertise in manager selection, due diligence and risk management.
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 raise USD250m for its third incubation fund which will seed both hedge funds and actively managed ETFs, with Harcourt providing investment infrastructure and risk management.
