About us
The Hedge Funds Club is an informal industry network. Our mission is to promote the Asian hedge fund industry and help it grow by connecting investors and hedge fund managers through networking events. The club, founded by Stefan Nilsson in 2005, has grown into Asia’s largest network for hedge fund managers and institutional investors.
About Stefan Nilsson
Hedge fund industry veteran Stefan Nilsson, founder and president of the Hedge Funds Club, is CEO of HFC Advisory Group in Tokyo where he assists companies in the alternative investment industry with Japanese/Asian investor introductions and market intelligence. He is also a representative of Forbes & Manhattan Capital Management, a private equity affiliate of Forbes & Manhattan merchant bank, and on the advisory board of TSI International Group, a Canadian alternative investment manager. As executive director at JP Morgan‘s prime brokerage he managed the capital introduction group in Japan and Singapore. Earlier in his career he worked in prime brokerage and asset management at Bear Stearns and was managing director of Profit Research Center, a Tokyo-based hedge fund advisory firm, and a board member of Profit Fund. Stefan is a former member of the executive committee of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) Japan and currently serves as Japanese chairman and a member of the global board of trustees for SNS – Centre for Business and Policy Studies. He has been involved in organising networking events across the world since 1997. He was educated in Sweden, USA and England and received his MBA from Leicester University in the UK.
Our history
The Hedge Funds Club has been organising by invitation only networking events for hedge fund managers and investors in Asia since 2005.
2005
Stefan Nilsson, at the time heading a small global macro shop in Tokyo, came up with the idea of creating an informal network for hedge fund managers and investors as a way of promoting the industry and helping it grow. He had early help with setting up the network from his colleague Jim Macdonald. The very first Tokyo Hedge Funds Club networking evening was held in June 2005 on the patio of French bistro Aux Bacchanales at Ark Hills in Tokyo. Kirby Daley at prime brokerage Fimat (now Newedge) became the very first corporate sponsor of the new industry network.
2006
The Hedge Funds Club continued to grow and firmly established itself as the meeting place for Japan’s hedge fund industry.
2007
After seven successful events at Ark Hills the networking evenings had grown too large and moved to the ballroom of the Tokyo American Club. One of the year’s highlights was the Australian wine tasting evening with Carl Robinson in September.
2008
By popular demand the Hedge Funds Club expanded overseas and hosted its first event in Singapore. The event took place at the Tower Club in the 64th floor bar of the Republic Plaza with views over all of Singapore and beyond. Back home in Tokyo the iconic Roppongi Hills Mori Tower became the club’s new home.
2009
The Hedge Funds Club successfully expanded into Hong Kong where the first Hong Kong Hedge Funds Club event took place at Sir David Tang’s retro-chic, Shanghai-style China Club in the Old Bank of China Building.
2010
The Hedge Funds Club celebrates five years of networking in Asia with a special birthday party in Tokyo.
2011
The club continues to be a meeting place for investors and hedge funds with events in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore.
