Wexford Capital, a $US7 billion hedge fund and private equity manager out of Connecticut, has poached an RBC Capital analyst to establish a Sydney office.

Chris Lancaster, a geologist and bulk commodities expert, is currently finishing up on the sell-side at RBC Capital’s Sydney office, and searching for office space for Wexford Capital’s first ever Asian headquarters. “;The world is my oyster,”; Lancaster said last week of his new role. “;I’ll be on a plane 50 per cent of the time, scouring the region for investment opportunities, especially in the bulk commodities [coal and iron ore] area.”; Lancaster had marketed to Wexford during his tenure at RBC Capital, the investment banking arm of Royal Bank of Canada, and said a “;meeting of minds”; transpired on commodities opportunities in the Asian region. Opportunities will range from project-level or pre-IPO investments for Wexford’s private equity funds, to stakes of up to 20 per cent in listed opportunities for its suite of multi-strategy hedge funds. Wexford is understood to source no FUM from Australia at present, but Lancaster said that “;down the track”; his role may evolve to marketing Wexford to local institutions.