Lydian Asset Management, a Westport, Conn. asset manager with $1 billion in assets that has chiefly invested in convertible bonds, is looking to start a credit hedge fund. Volatility in the credit markets and a declining default rate have created an environment in which a credit fund with a high level of expertise and flexibility can flourish, says Ken Goldberg, a former high-yield technology analyst at Merrill Lynch, who joined Lydian earlier this year as a managing director. Goldberg and John Georgantas lead a research team of five people, all of whom report to David Friezo, managing principal of the firm. The fund will take long and short positions in high-yield, high-grade and convertible debt as well as derivatives, says Goldberg.