US asset manager BlackRock’s hedge fund chief executive Howard Berkowitz has told a conference in Monaco that it will acquire small holdings in start-up hedge funds.

According to Financial News, he said that his company would seek to invest in young alternative asset managers in order to "be on the ground floor and be able to get a great rate of return."

Mr Berkowitz joined BlackRock with the acquisition by the firm of his HPB hedge fund business in 2003.