Itau Revs up Hedge Fund

Kinea, the Brazil-based hedge fund 80% owned by Itau is readying a push into real estate and private equity. The fund, which has around $400m in assets under management belonging primarily to Brazilian wealthy individuals, private banks and family offices, has sourced BRL50m in seed capital for real estate and hopes to raise up to BRL250m by the end of July, Alfredo Setubal, EVP in charge of Itau’s asset management arms, tells LatinFinance. The fund will invest primarily in residential property, adds the executive. Kinea is also in search of a team of private equity managers to run a fund targeting illiquid investment in Brazilian companies. The fund has in past months posted a prospectus targeting a BRL260m raise, but Setubal says the fund will likely aim for a much larger pool of capital for the strategy. He hopes to have a team of 3-4 private equity executives in place by end-2009.