The trend of investment banks taking a stake in high-profile hedge funds continued in March. Lehman Brothers announced that it would take a 20% holding in quant house DE Shaw, which has about $29 billion in assets under management. The investment bank already has investments in hedge funds GLG Partners, Ospraie Management and Marble Bar Management. In January, Lehman also took a 20% stake in emerging markets investment manager Spinnaker Capital.
According to an investment banker who advises hedge funds in M&A activity, an increasing number of managers are enquiring about interest from investment banks. "They are asking us, where is my Nomura?" he says, referring to Nomura’s acquisition of a 15% stake in hedge fund and private equity group Fortress at the end of 2006....
