If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, is it always a duck? Not always, especially in the case of hedge funds investing in private equity and private equity firms managing hedge funds.

More and more, the lines between the two once-distinct investment strategies are blurring. Witness two milestone moments from February: On the hedge fund side, Highfields Capital offered $3.25bn for electronics retailer Circuit City. On the private equity side, TPG-Axon Capital, a hedge fund by buyout firm Texas Pacific Group and ex-Goldman Sachs executive Dinakar Singh, opened its doors with $2.8bn capital.