CNBC announced this afternoon the launch of a new franchise series covering Hedge Funds and Private Equity called “Power & Money”…

CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, will devote increased, high-priority coverage to the $1.2 trillion hedge and private equity fund industry, beginning immediately, it was announced today by Jonathan Wald, Senior Vice President, Business News, CNBC. The segments will be reported under the banner “Power & Money: Inside the World of Hedge Funds and Private Equity.”

The segments will be seen on all CNBC Business Day programming (5 AM-7 PM ET), including “Squawk Box,” “Power Lunch” and “Closing Bell” “on the Money CNBC will turn its unrivalled global reporting loose on the fast-growing world of hedge and private equity funds. Assets in hedge funds, for instance, have more than doubled in just the past five years, and private equity funds are now among Wall Street’s biggest dealmakers. CNBC, in collaboration with The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones, will not only report breaking news on these market-moving investment powerhouses but also will present features on the people who run them and the big-money investors who have flooded them with capital.

Hedge funds are increasingly in the news. Last month, for example, the Greenwich, Conn.-based $9.2 billion hedge fund Amaranth Advisors made headlines when a 32-year-old energy trader was responsible for losing $6.5 billion in bad natural gas markets.

With these unregulated pools of money controlling more than $1.2 trillion, and with more and more hedge funds making headlines both good and bad, CNBC will intensify its coverage of this important beat.

“The hedge and private equity fund industry has significant relevance to the viewers of CNBC—business executives and financial professionals,” Mr. Wald said. “By increasing our coverage not only of the industry, but also the people who run it and the big-money investors, we are ensuring our viewers are kept abreast of the important information they need to make business decisions.”

When hedge fund news breaks anywhere in the world, CNBC will cover it with the most experienced business news operation in the world. The team will include CNBC’S vaunted reporting staff and will be led from CNBC Global Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. by Assistant Managing Editor Stephen (Steve) Lewis, who produced the five-part 2005 series “Hedge Fund Heat.”