MD Sass and Australian investment bank Macquarie Group formed a strategic alliance to manage a $273 million private equity fund that was initially launched by MD Sass, said Sass spokesman Tom Pinto. Macquarie will commit $110 million to the fund- renamed MD Sass-Macquarie Financial Strategies - through late 2013, said Aman Bajwa, a financial analyst with MD Sass who works on the fund. The fund will make seed investments in specialized investment management companies.
The fund had already helped launch four firms, employing roughly $40 million in capital: real estate investment manager Ascent Real Estate Advisors; hedge fund Waterfall Asset Management; market-neutral energy derivative firm Energy Arbitrage Management; and Asian equity manager Denahi Global Investments. Mr. Bajwa said the fund will look to employ the remainder of its capital by partnering with 10 or more additional investment management teams over the next three years.
