A team of City of London bankers and hedge fund executives has clubbed together to build a Bermuda-registered bank that will specialise in lending to hedge funds, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

The FT said CDG Holdings Ltd., which was incorporated in Bermuda in February and stands for Carpe Diem Group, plans to list on London?s Aim stock Exchange by the end of this year.

It was not clear on Friday whether CDG would need a Bermuda bank licence.

The FT said that George Magan ? a dealmaker who in 1988 co-founded JO Hambro Magan with Rupert Hambro ? is chairman of the bank and that he and Peter Lusk, chief executive, hope to raise at least ?130 million but possibly as much as ?520 million.

Mr. Lusk ? the former chief operating officer of Forstmann-Leff, a money manager, and former vice-chairman of restructuring company WL Ross & Co ? said CDG would allow investors to get exposure to hedge funds in a way that will be more liquid than simply investing in funds directly.

Also among the founders of CDG are Paul Wright, the former chief financial officer of Man Investments and former deputy chief executive of Coutts, and Tristan Elbrick, chief executive of Aspen Capital, the London-based hedge fund and private equity firm.

?Based in Bermuda, CDG will serve hedge funds as a lender and deposit taker. It will also make investments in their future earnings.

?It will not buy stakes in hedge funds but will market fund of hedge fund products,? the FT said.

A number of hedge funds have recently listed on European exchanges and publicly traded banks have taken stakes in hedge funds this year, and research from ABN Amro showed that ?1.31 billion had been raised in London alone for hedge fund products, with ?894 million of that from initial public offerings of funds of hedge funds.

Last year, ?563 million was raised in London by funds of hedge funds.