BOSTON (Bloomberg) ? Billionaire Thomas Lee, who founded buyout firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP 32 years ago, stepped down to start another private-equity venture and expand his hedge fund.

?We?ve separated amicably, and I intend to re-enter private equity but my plans won?t be squared for a few months,? Lee said in a telephone interview on Thursday. New York-based Thomas H. Lee Capital LLC will pursue ?the full breadth of buyout opportunities?, he said.

Lee, 62, in December announced he was negotiating his departure from the Boston-based firm, where he remained chief executive officer after giving up day-to-day management oversight in 2003 to Anthony DiNovi, 43, Scott Schoen, 47, and Scott Sperling, 48.

Thomas H. Lee has been an active investor in Bermuda insurance start-ups, including Endurance Speciality and Axis Capital in 2001 and in Ariel Re last year.

Lee plans to solicit clients from outside the US for his $1.4 billion Blue Star fund, which farms out money to other hedge funds. Blue Star has invested with 94 managers, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg News.

Lee runs Blue Star, named after the fictitious airline in the movie ?Wall Street,? with James Burritt, a former Merrill Lynch & Co. executive. Founded in 1999, the fund was a way for Lee to diversify his investments and wealth.

Blue Star was the tenth best performer among 1,800 so-called funds of funds in the three years ended January 31, up 90 percent, according to MarHedge, a publication that ranks fund performance. The fund gained 11 percent this year through the end of February.

Thomas H. Lee Partners is seeking more than $8 billion for its latest and biggest-ever buyout fund.

The firm is best known for making more than ten times its money on beverage-maker Snapple Beverage Corp. in 1994 and for losing $500 million on futures broker Refco Inc., which collapsed in October.