Hong Kong's Samena Capital and Swiss boutique private bank and money manager Reyl & Cie SA plan to raise up to $250 million in a seed fund that will invest in hedge funds focusing on Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. The two firms had committed $25 million to start Samena Angel Fund II, said Samena Capital founder and President Shirish Saraf, adding that Reyl would tap private bank clients to help expand the fund they expect to launch by October. The firms announced a joint venture combining Samena Asia Managers, Samena Capital's hedge fund seeding business, with Reyl & Cie on Tuesday. "That's the business we see going forward as a real synergy with REYL," Saraf told Reuters in an interview.   more »

Two of the world's most successful investors have gone head to head over the price of gold, with the man who broke the Bank of England baling out of the precious metal and the man who made a fortune by betting against the American housing market talking it up. At the end of a week when plunging commodity prices fuelled speculation that the boom might be over, it emerged that George Soros– who made $1.1bn from betting against the pound in 1992 – has sold much of the gold and silver holdings he has built up in the past three years, realising an estimated return of 65% on his investment. By contrast, meanwhile, John Paulson, who made his hedge fund more than $20bn from betting against the US housing market by "shorting" sub-prime mortgages, this week told investors that he still has most of his personal money invested in gold.   more »