Magnetar Financial, an Evanston, Ill.-based multi-strategy hedge fund, is dominating the market for asset-backed securities collateralized debt obligations by buying bespoke deals in massive size. The fund has enlisted a clutch of Wall Street firms to structure full-capital structure deals in which it buys the equity slice, according to SN sister publication Derivatives Week.

Three CDOs have closed so far, each over $1 billion and named after an astrological constellation, and a handful of others are in the works. The structures consist primarily of credit-default swaps referencing sub-prime residential mortgage-backed securities.

The fund was founded last fall by Alec Litowitz, former global head of equities at Citadel Investment Group, and Ross Laser, former president and managing partner at Glenwood Capital Investments, and has been making waves in synthetic ABS.