H. Ross was looking rather trollish in splashing into his new role as principal troll in a $200 million private equity fund set up to buy companies with "undervalued" patent portfolios in such areas as semiconductors, biotech, nanotechnology and software.

Chicago merchant bank ICMB Ocean Tomo set the fund up, creatively calling the money pool the "Ocean Tomo Capital Fund"; no doubt someone stayed up past hot-toddy time thinking up that name. The plan is to acquire or secure controlling stakes in patent-laden, supposedly snack-sized companies with annual revenues between $50 million and $1 billion. A spokesman was not available to explain the math of acquiring a billion-dollar company with a fund totaling $200 million.