01/06/2010 Author: Elana Margulies

Former mutual fund pro moves into hedge funds

Zachary Karabell, formerly of mutual fund titan Fred Alger Management, has made a foray into the hedge fund industry.

Having formed New York-based River Twice Capital Advisors earlier this year, Karabell will now debut the River Twice Fund on 1 June. The offering is a global long/short equity strategy which will use fundamental research. It will invest in all sectors and market capitalisations.

Karabell said he decided to launch at a time when companies need to be more efficient and less resource-intensive to be profitable.

“It is also an opportunity for companies that help other companies reduce the costs of doing business,” he said. “Productivity is driving profitability. There is a huge imperative for businesses to enhance their productivity, and the financial crisis has made those imperatives more acute.”

The fund is anticipated to launch with less than $20m from high-net-worth individuals.

Zarabell is the fund’s portfolio manager. At Fred Alger, an investment firm in New York, which manages approximately $15bn in mutual funds and institutional accounts, he was executive vice president, chief economist, and head of marketing. He was also president of Fred Alger & Co, a broker dealer; portfolio manager of the five-star China-US Growth Fund; and executive vice president of Alger’s Spectra Funds, a family of mutual funds.