[by Larry Goldfarb]

John Mack, the former head of Morgan Stanley is joining forces with Joel Ehrenkranz, who co-founded a tax and estate legal practice with his brother Sanford in 1966, to start fund-of-funds manager E&M Advisors LLC.. E&M expects to raise $500 million this quarter to invest in outside hedge funds and private-equity deals, the firm said in the filing.

Mack, a onetime bond salesman and trader, could help E&M Advisors attract assets from corporate executives and private- banking contacts cultivated during the course of his 35-year career at Morgan Stanley (MS), said Brad Hintz, a bank and brokerage analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. , Ehrenkranz is a 77-year-old tax lawyer who oversees more than $15 billion in investment assets for clients such as ex-basketball star Magic Johnson and the founding family of Estee Lauder Cos.

E&M Advisors said in the regulatory filing that its first fund-of-funds will allocate assets to third-party money managers who “utilize a broad range of investment strategies,” and may also make direct investments in operating companies as well as co-investments with private-equity 

For more information, please read [Bloomberg, 10/19/12]