Two newly formed commodities hedge funds are seeking a total of $1.4 billion in capital after Millennium Management ended support for the founders' earlier fund last year.
Les Finemore and Al Fullerton have launched Moreton Capital Partners, which is aiming to raise $1 billion for a strategy that will trade across commodities markets using quantitative research augmented by artificial intelligence, Finemore told Bloomberg.
Separately, Adam Davis, chief investment officer of Farrer Capital Management Pty and former head of commodities at Merricks Capital, is looking to gather $400 million for a new agriculture-focused fund at Farrer, he said.
The three professionals previously worked together at Farrer, which had started with $500 million in backing from Millennium in 2024. According to the reporting, Millennium withdrew that funding last year.
Finemore described investor interest in commodities as robust, citing inquiries from North America, the Middle East and Europe. He framed current market dynamics as creating trade opportunities, stating: "The global system's very fragmented. Supply chains are regionalizing and there are geopolitical tensions, obviously. That brings a lot of opportunities for us," he said.
Moreton will be based in Abu Dhabi and Mexico City and is expected to employ more than 10 people, Finemore said. The fund is targeting sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors and could scale to between $3 billion and $4 billion. Management plans to apply artificial intelligence to systematize fundamental trading across commodity markets.
At Farrer, Davis intends to raise $200 million by the end of the first quarter and reach $400 million by year-end for the agriculture-focused vehicle. That fund will trade physical commodities in addition to exchange-traded and over-the-counter derivatives. Davis said the new Farrer fund has six employees and is headquartered in Melbourne.
Both initiatives reflect a continued push by former colleagues to re-establish independent commodity trading platforms after the withdrawal of external support. Each fund emphasizes a mix of active trading capabilities and institutional investor outreach, while Moreton highlights the integration of AI into a research-driven trading process.