Credit Suisse eying Mesirow's $11B hedge fund unit

Credit Suisse Group AG is talking with Mesirow Financial Inc on the possibility of buying the firm’s hedge fund investing unit, according to published reports. Discussions on the possible purchase of Mesirow Advanced Strategies Inc., the $11 billion unit that invests clients’ cash into hedge funds, are still preliminary and could fall through, insiders told The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. Credit Suisse itself already has about $15 billion in assets in its fund-of-funds business. Calls to Mesirow and Credit Suisse were not immediately returned. Hedge funds’ performance took their share of knocks during the economic downturn. In 2008, the HFRX Absolute Return Index, which represents the overall composition of the hedge fund universe, slid by 13.09%. Those losses have narrowed since then. Year-to-date as of Sept. 2nd, the index has only fallen by 3.47%, according to data from Hedge Fund Research Inc. of Chicago.