HSBC Halbis to launch long/short commodity fund

By Pratima Desai

LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC Halbis Partners is planning to launch a commodity futures fund to exploit both the upside and the downside, Bill Maldonado, its head of alternative investments, said on Wednesday.

Over the past few years, many funds have been launched to trade commodity indexes such as the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index .GSCI, which usually only captures the upside.

That has worked until recently, but now doubt is creeping in about whether the commodity bull run can be sustained, and expectations of a correction are growing, so many investors are looking for choice.

"We will be indifferent about whether commodity prices go up, down or sideways," Maldonado said at the Reuters Hedge Funds and Private Equity Summit.

"There are people out there who believe in the commodity supercycle (a 10 to 15 year bull run), and we are in that camp ... But that isn't necessary for this hedge fund."

The fund will use the long/short strategy, which means it will be able buy and short sell commodity futures.

Maldonado expects the fund to be launched in 3 to 6 months' time and thinks the capacity of the fund is quite large.

"We think it could take between $500 million and $1 billion dollars ... We're hiring two people to run it."  Continued...