Credit Suisse Mulls Buy of Hedge Fund Firm

The Swiss bank is in discussions to acquire the hedge fund arm of Mesirow Financial in a bid to boost its hedge fund business, a report says.

Author:: Joseph Woelfel
Publish date:: Sep 4, 2009 12:44 AM EDT

ZURICH (

TheStreet

) -- Swiss bank

Credit Suisse

(CS) - Get Report

is in discussions to acquire Mesirow Advanced Strategies, the hedge fund arm of Chicago-based trading and advisory firm

Mesirow Financial

, a report says.

The

Wall Street Journal

says Mesirow places client money in hedge funds and has about $11 billion in assets. The deal would nearly double the $14.5 billion in assets Credit Suisse currently oversees that it farms out to a wide range of external hedge funds.

The talks are ongoing and an agreement hasn't been reached, the

Journal

reports, citing people briefed on the matter. Credit Suisse and Mesirow spokespeople declined to comment for the newspaper.

Mesirow's hedge fund unit makes up about one-third of the assets managed by the firm, which also has holdings in real estate, commodities and private-equity funds, the

Journal

notes.

-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York

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