By Nishant Kumar and Stephen Aldred
HONG KONG, April 13 (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs-linked Capula
Investment Management is expanding its $13 billion business into
Hong Kong, according to sources, becoming the latest major
investor to jump into the region where hedge fund players are a
small but growing part of the market.
While thousands of hedge funds across the globe manage
nearly $2 trillion in assets, relatively few have so far
established a large presence in Asia, despite the region’s rapid
economic growth in the last five years.
That is changing fast, with GLG Partners, Soros Fund
Management and Paulson & Co among the funds that have set up
shop in Hong Kong as a major centre for growth, especially given
its proximity to China.
The sources, who had direct knowledge of the matter, said
Capula would open an office in Hong Kong, which would be fully
operational at some point this year.
London-based Capula, which also has offices in Greenwich and
Tokyo, declined comment.
The hedge fund accepted $200 million from sovereign wealth
fund China Investment Corp in 2009, and was selected by
the State of Wisconsin Investment Board in the United States for
its first-ever allocation to hedge funds last year.
Antony Hung, a Bank of America Merrill Lynch veteran who
worked for nearly two decades in the fixed income division at
the Wall Street bank, will head the Hong Kong office, which will
have traders focused on Asia, the sources said.
Capula, in which Goldman’s Petershill fund, which
takes stakes in hedge funds, bought a nearly 20 percent stake in
2008, is currently in the licensing phase.
The hedge fund manages fixed income trading strategies along
with a tail-risk hedge product, which aims to protect investors
from rare and extreme events in financial markets.
Capula was founded in 2005 by Yan Huo, an electrical
engineer who moved into securities trading after earning his
doctorate from Princeton University, and Masao Asai, a former
executive at UFJ International.
