Australian regulators have approved a joint venture between Rupert Murdoch, Kerry Packer and Zurich Capital Markets (ZCM) to provide leverage, liquidity and guarantees to hedge fund providers and investors in Asia.

ZCM, the four-year-old alternative investment arm of Swiss reinsurance giant Zurich Re, persuaded a company owned by Packer to invest A$55m (€33.5m) in its new, Sydney-based business. The amount invested by Murdoch's company has not been disclosed. ZCM achieved a second coup by hiring Rodney Payne and Dominic Stevens to run the business. Payne and Stevens formed the core of the Bankers Trust Australia team, seen as the most profitable part of Bankers Trust's derivatives operation.