Mitsubishi Corporation has announced that it will acquire a 5 per cent stake in London-based hedge fund manager Capula Investment Management and its group companies through a purchase of s

Mitsubishi Corporation has announced that it will acquire a 5 per cent stake in London-based hedge fund manager Capula Investment Management and its group companies through a purchase of shares from existing partners. It is following the example off Goldman Sachs, which took a 20 per cent stake in Capula in February through its private equity vehicle Petershill Fund Offshore.

Founded in May 2005, Capula is best known as a fixed-income arbitrage manage specialist in G7 interest rates. The firm uses quantitative approaches to seek trading opportunities from market distortions, without betting on the outright direction in prices.

With the launch of its Industrial Finance Logistics and Development Group in April last year, Mitsubishi is aiming to build on its position as a general trading house to expand its financial services business. With Japanese personal savings gradually shifting to personal investments, the group sees opportunities in the asset management industry and has been establishing strategic alliances with external partners.

Mitsubishi will become Capula's strategic partner in Japan and across Asia, supporting the marketing of Capula funds, mainly to institutional investors. The two groups also plan jointly to create new financial products for a wide range of investors.

Capula, which was established by Yan Huo and Masao Asai, launched its flagship Global Relative Value fund in October 2005, and it also manages a long/short Japanese equities fund launched last year. At the end of August Capula had some USD4.1bn in assets under management.

Following the purchase of a 5 per cent stake by Mitsubishi, the firm is owned 75.01 per cent by its founding partners and 19.99 per cent by Petershill Fund Offshore, a private equity fund that specialises in taking minority stakes in alternative asset management businesses.