Salida Capital to launch Private Equity Fund; Receives $100MM in seed capital from Avenir Capital

Date: Thursday, April 22, 2010
Author: Hedgetracker.com

Canadian alternative investment firm Salida Capital has recently announced the planned launch of its first private equity fund. The new fund will focus on natural resources and already has a $100 million seed investment committed by Avenir Capital Corporation’s CEO Bill Gallacher. While Salida has been “known for being a leader over the past several years in capitalizing on investment opportunities in the natural resources and precious metals arena,” the firm’s planned venture into private equity is based on the “many opportunities the team is seeing on the private side that cannot be held in their current funds.”

With the new partnership between Mr. Gallacher and Salida Capital, the Canadian firm will see a few management changes. Brad White, a current portfolio manager and co-founder of Salida, will be transitioning to Avenir and its asset management team. Mr. White’s two portfolios, the Salida Multi Strategy Fund and the Global Energy fund, will be transferred to two other managers at Salida.

The firm’s President and CEO Courtenay Wolfe commented on the reasons behind the fund’s launch, stating, “Many of our investors have asked for a longer term time horizon for investing, wishing to access some of the great private investment opportunities we are seeing in the natural resources space.” According to the press release, the new fund’s marketing period is set to begin in May of this year and run for 6-8 months.

Salida Capital was founded in 2001 by Chief Investment Officer Danny Guy and primarily manages private wealth funds and hedge funds that invest in publicly listed securities. The private wealth management firm is headquartered in Toronto.

Salida Capital made headlines last summer when its management team spent $1.68 million in an annual charity auction to have lunch with Warren Buffet at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse. The price may same high, but it’s actually lower than the $2.11 million paid by Zhao Danyang of Hong Kong-based hedge fund manager Pure Heart Asset Management in 2008.