Sextant to Raise $850 Million for Water, Metals Hedge Funds

Date: Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Author: Saijel Kishan, Bloomberg.com

(Bloomberg) -- Sextant Capital Management Inc., a Toronto-based fund manager, plans to raise $850 million for two hedge funds that will invest in water and metals.

About $700 million will be for the Caymans Island-based Sextant Strategic Global Water Fund, which will invest in stocks of water companies, Otto Spork, founder of Sextant, said by phone today.

The Sextant Strategic Hybrid2Hedge Resource Fund, registered in the Cayman Islands, will invest in companies that mine metals such as molybdenum, used to make stainless steel, and will short sell the underlying metals, Spork said. Short selling is selling a borrowed security, then buying it a lower price and pocketing the difference.

Both funds will be managed by a team led by Spork. Sextant Capital's first fund, Sextant Strategic Opportunities, has gained 110 percent since it was started in January.

To contact the reporter on this story: Saijel Kishan in London at skishan@bloomberg.net .