Nobel Foundation Looks to Hedge Funds For Money

Size of cash prizes were cut this year

The Nobel Foundation, which this year lopped 20 percent off its cash prizes, is planning to invest more money through hedge funds to boost its returns and restore the award to its previous size.

"When we look at the analysis we see that we can get more return with less risks by doing that," Executive Director Lars Heikensten said in an interview at the Nobel Foundation's Stockholm headquarters yesterday. "If we can choose hedge funds that we trust, then we can get better returns for given risks." The fund "probably shouldn't" be fully invested in debt securities, he said.