BTP Capital plans to invest in Treasury and agency futures, as well as enter interest rate swaps in its new BTP Tax Advantaged Trading Fund. Chris Dillon, partner in New York, said it will use the derivatives to mitigate interest rate risk.
In the swaps the fund will pay a fixed-rate and receive a floating LIBOR-based rate, or it will buy swaptions, said Dillon. BTP Tax Advantaged Trading, a long/short fund investing in municipal bonds, will be launched with seed capital of USD20-25 million, and is expected to launch early next year. Merrill Lynch is the prime broker for the fund. Any swaps and futures entered into by the fund will be executed with large firms, including Merrill Lynch, Dillon said.