Blackstone partners with Fidelity on new alt-focused mutual fund

The Blackstone Group has partnered with Fidelity Investment's Portfolio Advisory Service to launch its first daily valued alternative investment-focused mutual fund. Sources familiar with the matter said Fidelity has provided close to $1 billion in funding for The Blackstone Alternative Multi-Manager Fund. The multiasset mutual fund is open to institutional clients of Blackstone. The fund is also active and available through Fidelity's managed accounts program. The fund, which was initially announced last month, is an open-end mutual fund managed by Blackstone Alternative Investment Advisors. The investment objective of the fund is to seek capital appreciation by allocating assets among a variety of investment subadvisers with experience managing alternative investment strategies. Blackstone may also manage a portion of the fund's assets directly and may invest in unaffiliated hedge funds. “In the three years we have been planning for this product launch, we have built a very solid relationship with Fidelity,” said J. Tomilson Hill, vice chairman of The Blackstone Group and CEO of Blackstone Alternative Asset Management, in a prepared statement. The fund's subadvisers are Two Sigma Advisers, Cerberus, Credit Suisse Hedging-Griffo Servicos Internacionais, HealthCor Management, Caspian Capital, Boussard and Gavaudan Asset Management, Wellington Management, Good Hill Partners, BTG Pactual Asset Management U.S., Chatham Asset Management and Nephila Capital. The Blackstone Group's assets under management hit a record high of $229.6 billion as of June 30, up 5.2% from the previous quarter, according to the alternative money manager's July earnings statement. James Comtois is a reporter at sister publication Pensions & Investments.