12/05/2010 Author: Elana Margulies

Onassis Foundation seeds Levant fund

The Alexander S Onassis Foundation has seeded Levant Partners' second hedge fund, HFMWeek has learned. The foundation, established by shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, deployed capital to the Athens-based $110m hedge fund manager's Menander Fund.

The Menander Fund, which launched mid-March, is a long/short equity offering with a focus on the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and North Africa) region. A long-bias strategy, it holds 20-30 long positions and 5-10 short positions across all sectors with a focus on mid-cap stocks.

Vassilis Karatzas, founder of Levant, said, “this allows us to manage and find opportunities in different market environments to make money and protect the money we make,” he said. “We believe this core region offers attractive opportunities but altogether we think it's one of the most exciting regions in the world. We are particularly optimistic for Turkey, Central Europe and Russia.”

The fund launched with $23m and expects to grow to $100m within 18 months.

Prior to founding Levant Partners, Karatzas was the managing director and CIO at Global Fund Management, an asset management firm sponsored by EFG Eurobank Ergasias, where he focused on the EMEA region. Previously, he worked as an investment manager in Global Finance, an Athens-based private equity firm; the EMEA private equity division of Bankers Trust in London; and AIG Capital Partners in New York, where he was responsible for investment opportunities in Turkey, Russia and Central Europe.

The fund has a $1m investment minimum, 2/20 fees and monthly liquidity. Goldman Sachs is the prime broker. It has a $400m capacity.