PARIS - Dominique Strauss-Kahn is seeking to translate his extensive experience at the top levels of global policy-making into a lucrative career as an investment manager, hoping to raise $2 billion for a hedge fund, one of his partners in the venture said on Thursday.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn, a former International Monetary Fund chief and French presidential hopeful, is currently in China making the rounds of global investors and seeking to drum up interest in the fund, Mohamad Zeidan, chief operating officer of Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s Luxembourg-based investment firm, LSK & Partners, said by telephone from Shanghai.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who fell from grace in 2011 amid accusation of sexual assault, joined last year with a banker, Thierry Leyne, to form LSK, in an effort to capitalize on the former I.M.F. chief’s experience and expertise. The new fund, which represents his first effort to actively manage money on a large scale, is aimed at institutional investors and high net worth individuals around the world.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s abilities “should speak for themselves,†Mr. Zeidan said.
The DSK Global Investment Fund, as it is known, is a “global macro fund,†and will not employ a lot of leverage and complicated derivatives, Mr. Zeidan said. Rather, it will “use the expertise that we have in following economic movements, and translate that into profitable trades.â€
The fund is “as plain vanilla as it gets,†Mr. Zeidan added. “We have no leverage whatsoever.â€
Hedge funds take aim at sophisticated investors and employ active investing strategies aimed at making money regardless of the direction of market movements. Globally, hedge funds manage about $2.03 trillion, according to Eurekahedge.
