Mohamed Zeidan, chief operating officer at Strauss-Kahn’s LSK & Partners, told Reuters yesterday that the former French presidential hopeful is currently in China trying to raise capital for the fund.
The DSK Global Investment Fund, as it will be known, is currently awaiting approval from Luxembourg.
“China plays and will play a predominant role in this fund,” Zeidan, who is also a partner in the venture, told Reuters.
“We have met with the largest groups in each sector and I’m talking to the financial sector, insurance companies, bankers, financial groups, private and public.”
Zeidan added that the “global macro fund” would focus on simplicity rather than complicated derivatives and would transfer Strauss-Kahn’s economic expertise into profitable trades.
He called it “as vanilla as it gets”.
Strauss-Kahn’s daughter Vanessa, who has a Ph.D in economics, will be head of research for the fund.
Strauss-Kahn, 64, formed LSK & Partners last year with banker Thierry Leyne. It currently employs 100 people and has three trading platforms each with asset-management, corporate finance, insurance and capital-management units.
The hedge fund represents the company’s first effort to actively manage money on a large scale.
Strauss-Kahn was managing director at IMF from 2007 to 2011 and made extensive diplomatic efforts to secure IMF aid for Europe following the 2010 sovereign debt crisis. But his affair with a subordinate earned him the nickname “The Great Seducer” during his time there.
In May 2011 he stepped down after being charged with attempted rape, sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching of a chambermaid at a hotel in Manhattan. He denied the charges, which were dropped after a lengthy court battle in 2012.
He has more recently been ordered to stand trial over allegations of involvement in a prostitution ring operating in France and the US.
