Macquarie Bank and hedge fund firm MD Sass have combined to launch a $273m (€214m) fund that will invest in innovative and specialised investment management companies.

The new fund, named MD Sass-Macquarie Financial Strategies, has already invested in Ascent Real Estate Advisors, a US real estate fund; Waterfall Asset Management, a high-yield asset-backed securities fund; Energy Arbitrage Management, a market neutral energy futures fund; and Denahi Global Investments, a long/short Asia fund covering equities in all Asian countries.