NEW YORK — Hedge-fund seeding firm SkyBridge Capital LLC is acquiring Citigroup Inc.'s fund of hedge funds, hedge-fund seeding and hedge fund advisory businesses, a transaction that quadruples the size of SkyBridge and marks Citigroup's latest sale of non-core assets.
Financial terms of the deal — in which SkyBridge is buying three Citi Alternative Investments LLC businesses with $4.2 billion of assets under management and advisory — weren't disclosed.
In a release, SkyBridge said the deal will position it as "one of the leading global alternative asset managers" with $5.6 billion in assets under management.
As part of the move, Citi's Raymond Nolte, who headed the three businesses, will join SkyBridge as managing director and chief investment officer, bringing with him a team of 20 from Citi.
For New York-based Skybridge, founded in 2005, the move marks an expansion from its seeding business, which places investor money with emerging hedge fund managers. The move into funds of hedge funds, which invest in single hedge-fund managers, is a natural fit for the company, said SkyBridge founder and managing partner Anthony Scaramucci.
The businesses being acquired are part of Citi Holdings, which is made up of Citi's noncore assets and businesses that the financial-services giant is in the process of unloading.
Citi last year earmarked $715 billion in noncore assets to be sold, liquidated or wound down as it sought to reduce its risk profile during the market meltdown that saw the U.S. government take a roughly one-quarter ownership stake currently at 27%. Roughly one-quarter of those assets had been shed by the end of 2009.
Shares of Citigroup rose 2.2% to $4.72 in recent premarket trading amid the release of strong first-quarter results from rival JPMorgan Chase & Co.
