Japanese asset management firm Softbank Investment Corp (SBI) said on Wednesday that it plans to set up investment funds in Japan totalling some 20 billion yen ($182.7 million) in an alliance with Chicago-based hedge fund HFR Asset Management.

SBI said it would set up a fund worth about 10 billion yen linked to a hedge fund index developed by the Hedge Fund Research Inc of the United States -- the parent of HFR Asset and a provider of hedge fund data and other asset management services.

The fund will be marketed privately to Japanese institutional investors, SBI said in a statement.

Separately, SBI plans to launch another 10 billion yen index-linked fund targetting domestic individual investors through domestic brokerages including E*Trade Securities, its online brokerage arm.

SBI, the financial services arm of Japanese Internet service provider Softbank Corp, said the two funds are expected to be launched this summer.

Shares in SBI were up about 3.3 percent in afternoon trading at 123,000 yen, against a 0.5 percent fall in the benchmark Nikkei 225 share average .

(Reuters)