| Harold Ornberg and his team lead a new breed of hedge fund |
LAST YEAR BOUTIQUE hedge fund Orn Capital created a European distressed-debt hedge fund, the only one active that is purely dedicated to Europe. The fund is Orn Capital's third, and fund of funds managers are singing its praises. Other funds include its core merger arbitrage strategy and a value event (long/short equity) fund.
Swede Harald Orneberg created Orn Capital in 1999. Since then, the total size of assets under management has grown to $324.5 million. Orneberg, now aged 40, resigned as vice-president in equity risk arbitrage at Salomon Smith Barney in London four years ago and started Orn initially as an account manager on behalf of hedge fund Paloma Partners.
By March 2000 Orneberg had created an $80 million offshore merger arbitrage fund and it was run alongside the managed account until the end of 2001. "I was fortunate enough to launch the merger arbitrage strategy at a time when there was an extraordinary level of activity and positive investor reception to the strategy," says Orneberg.