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Former Perella Weinberg Partners Capital Management partner Andrew Dickson is preparing to launch an equities hedge fund firm called Albert Bridge Capital, six sources familiar with the matter said.
The firm is set to open an initial fund with $100 million in the first quarter of 2016, one source said, while a second added the size could be in the "low hundreds of millions". A third source said the fund would close at $750 million.
Reaching $100 million would put the fund among the biggest regional launches. Just 14 Europe-based hedge funds kicked off with that much in 2015, data from industry tracker Preqin showed.
The need to reach that figure has become more acute in recent years as a result of rising regulatory costs. Many funds also want to reach a size that makes them more attractive to institutional investors.
Dickson left his role as partner and portfolio manager at $8.6 billion investment manager Perella in January.
As well as previous stints at fund firm Fidelity and U.S. hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management, Dickson had also co-founded equity hedge fund Dickson Capital.
That firm's fund was eventually merged into Perella and renamed the Alpha Europe Fund, before it was shut at the end of 2014 after failing to reach "critical mass", despite positive performance, a fourth source, close to Perella, said.
The third source said Albert Bridge's first fund would buy just 15-25 stocks and be the firm's main focus for the next few years. A second fund that is able to bet on falling share prices may also be launched in the future, he added.
The firm had submitted its application for authorisation to the British regulator, but was not yet marketing to potential investors. However, the third source said he expected significant interest from U.S. endowments and institutions.
Joining Dickson in the start-up is ex-Perella director Doriana Pavlicu, who also worked alongside Dickson as head of operations at Dickson Capital Management, the role she will take at Albert Bridge, and ex-Perella analyst Charles Hwang.
