25/01/2012 Author: Elana Margulies

Former Appaloosa pro launches fund with Tepper backing

Ex-Appaloosa Management partner Jeff Lignelli is gearing up to launch a hedge fund with a significant investment from Appaloosa founder David Tepper, HFMWeek can exclusively reveal.

The start-up is the latest in a line of new hedge fund firms from distinguished debutants with backing from their former bosses.

Lignelli recently set up New York-based Incline Global Management and its flagship Incline Global Master fund is set to debut in April, according to a source familiar with the plans. Aside from a commitment from Tepper, Lignelli will also provide capital for the fund.

The Incline Global Master fund will follow a global equity long/short and opportunistic credit strategy. With 30-35 long positions, it will focus on companies with global businesses that trade on developed market exchanges. Up to 30% of the portfolio will focus on opportunistic credit.

Incline Global offers a founder’s share class, which has lower fees of 1.5/15 for allocators that invest in the first year.

New launches from former stars at Blue Ridge Capital and Moore Capital have also made headlines in recent months, with HFMWeek breaking news of the billion-dollar debuts of Falcon Edge Capital and Stone Milliner Asset Management.

Falcon Edge and Stone Milliner both received support and, in the latter’s case at least, investment, from their founder’s forefathers; Blue Ridge founder John Griffin and Moore Capital respectively.

Incline is not the first time Tepper has seeded a former colleague’s start-up. Reports from May 2011 credited him as a seed investor in Nokota Management, co-founded by Matthew Knauer, a former senior analyst at Appaloosa.

No information was available about the size of Tepper’s investment in Nokota. News coverage at the time suggested the firm was to start trading with $250m.

Prior to Appaloosa, Lignelli was the founder and portfolio manager of Stonebrook Fund Management, a long/short equity hedge fund.