Credit Suisse Is Said to Shutter Hedge Fund Stakes Unit Anteil

(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG is unwinding Anteil Capital Partners, the group it set up to take minority stakes in hedge-fund firms, according to people familiar with the matter.

The unit’s co-heads, former Stanford University endowment chief John Powers and ex-Blackstone Group LP managing director Anthony Maniscalco, are leaving the bank along with most of the team, the people said, asking not to be named because the details are private. The group was notified last week, the people said.

Anteil was courting investors to raise as much as $2 billion for a fund that would invest in 10 to 12 money managers, people familiar with the process said last year. Credit Suisse’s decision to shutter the unit was related to challenges in raising the capital, the people said.

A spokeswoman for Credit Suisse declined to comment. Powers and Maniscalco didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Swiss lender’s decision to exit the strategy stands out at a time when others are trying to jump in. The practice of buying minority stakes in alternative-asset managers has gained momentum in recent years as firms increasingly consider selling pieces of themselves as a ready source of liquidity.

Blackstone manages a $3.3 billion pool that has taken stakes in four hedge-fund managers and private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Petershill unit and Neuberger Berman Group’s Dyal Capital Partners have snatched up parts of high-profile managers including Riverstone Holdings and Silver Lake, respectively. Hycroft Capital and Carlyle Group LP’s AlpInvest Partners also are seeking such deals.

To contact the reporters on this story: Melissa Mittelman in New York at mmittelman@bloomberg.net, Kiel Porter in New York at kporter17@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Devin Banerjee

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