A member of RAB Capital's award-winning special situations team has left to set up her own private equity firm.

Carmel Daniele, who worked at the listed UK hedge fund manager as a full-time consultant, said she planned to invest in natural resources companies that were on the verge of flotation and public companies whose shares are rarely traded. She said: "The commodities market has reached a point in the cycle where investors can no longer rely on commodity prices to push up the value of companies. There is a lot of demand for funds prepared to invest in growth stories." Daniele has set up CD Capital with the support of PCE Investors, which backs hedge fund managers. CD Capital's first fund has two cornerstone investors including Lukas Lundin, chairman of Swedish Canadian company Lundin Mining, who has said he is prepared to co-invest alongside the fund. CD Capital hopes to raise $100m (€79m) by the end of next month.