Romano's Rampart Closes London-Based Energy Hedge Fund After Nine Months

Date: Monday, May 31, 2010
Author: Bloomberg

Rampart Capital LLP, a London-based hedge fund manager, decided to shut down its energy hedge fund after nine months because it failed to raise enough capital from investors.

“Ultimately we never reached critical mass and the world of fundraising has been tough,’’ Chief Investment Officer and founder Marcello Romano said today by email. “The credit crunch really did not help.’’

He didn’t provide details of assets under management or how much the fund had returned since its inception.

Rampart began trading on Sept. 1, focusing mainly on U.K. natural gas and power and northwest European electricity. The company had targeted an initial investment of $100 million, Romano said before the fund started trading.

Prior to Rampart Capital, Romano started Foundation Energy Ltd., an independent energy trading company, in 2003 with Barnaby Reason, Rampart’s chief operating officer.

Romano and Reason sold Foundation Energy to Canadian oil and gas explorer Nexen Inc. in 2006.

Hedge funds are private, largely unregulated pools of capital whose managers can buy or sell any assets and participate substantially in profits from money invested.