South Africa’s Peregrine Buys Big Stenham Stake

One of South Africa’s biggest hedge fund firms is looking north, buying a majority stake in a much larger British hedge fund.

Peregrine Holdings has agreed to take a 65% stake in London-based Stenham Asset Management, which manages more than US$4 billion, half of which in funds of hedge funds.

Peregrine, which manages some 4.3 billion South African rand (US$620 million), is to pay £150 million (US$305 million) for the stake, and could increase its share of Stenham to 75%.

Stenham is no stranger to its new homeland: The firm has offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg, as well as the Channel Islands, the Netherlands, Israel and Switzerland.