New York hedge fund shop Fairfield Greenwich Group has teamed up with Banque Bénédict Hentsch, a Geneva, Switzerland-based private bank, to form a $16 billion alternative asset firm.

The combination will allow BBH clients to gain access to Fairfield Greenwich's broad platform of single-manager hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, real estate funds and customized portfolios, while Fairfield Greenwich clients can now access BBH's suite of wealth management services.

“As Fairfield Greenwich has grown, and as the hedge fund industry has matured, we have evolved toward a more comprehensive view of alternative investments, asset management, and banking as interrelated disciplines,” said Fairfield Greenwich founding partner Walter Noel. “We believe that our partnership with a firm of BBH's outstanding quality brings us even more directly into the vanguard of global alternatives managers who are finding new and interlocking opportunities through expansion and business development across multiple financial industry sectors.”