Citigroup is not quite ready to give up on its battered and bruised alternative investments unit. The Wall Street giant is planning to relaunch its Citi Alternative Investments under a new name as it prepares a big fundraising push.
The future of the unit, which includes both hedge funds and private equity funds, has been very much in doubt in recent months, the Financial Times reports. Citi AI heads John Dorfman and Jim O’Brien suggested dropping “Citi” from the name entirely to distance the funds from their troubled parent in an effort to reassure investors. They suggested renaming part of the unit Carlton Hill, after the hedge fund they founded and later sold to Citi.
But others at Citi didn’t want people to get the wrong idea—such as that a spinoff of the alts. unit was imminent—and so the firm appears to have settled on the nom de guerre Citi Capital Advisors, the FT says.
With its new name, Citi AI is poised for a major fundraising push next year, with hopes of raising about $2.5 billion from outside investors. The division currently manages about $14 billion.
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