Brookfield resident Jason Nerat has launched a hedge fund that could grow as large as $150 million.
Nerat has established a new Brookfield firm, Nerat Capital LLC, to serve as the general partner of the fund, which is called Nerat Total Return Fund. He plans to begin meeting potential outside investors by Oct. 15.
The hedge fund grew out of Nerat’s management of his parents’ private funds, which he has been overseeing since 1991. Now that he’s developed some investment strategies, Nerat would like to expand the size of the fund.
“My parents had a tavern and I learned the food and beverage industry working for them,” he said.
Nerat’s parents also owned other small bars and restaurants, and a small dairy farm, all of which were in his Michigan hometown. He works out of his Brookfield home to keep overhead costs low, and expects to cap the hedge fund at about $150 million, putting it at the small end of hedge funds so it can remain nimble.
“I don’t see this as becoming a gigantic fund,” Nerat said. “The strategy or the style of this fund, it’s geared towards the S&P 500 ETF investor who’s looking for a portfolio that’s geared towards beating the S&P 500 on the long run on a total return basis.”
He plans to spread exposure globally, across industries and asset classes, taking a long-term value approach and providing consistent monthly returns.
“Where we get our edge is we hedge that portfolio with options to the market,” Nerat said. “This is geared towards somebody who is already comfortable with the performance of say, the S&P 500, but yet we can provide opportunity for greater total returns because of the way we manage the portfolio.”
Nerat previously worked as an analyst at JPMorgan Chase and U.S. Bank, and spent the past 15 years at CNH Industrial Capital, where he was most recently risk manager for its $27 billion global portfolio.
