According to Eurekahedge, as of September 2017 YTD, Asian funds have recorded a growth in AUM of US$16.23 billion, with US$10.8 billion accounted for by performance-based gains while the remainder, roughly US$5.4 billion has come through net investor allocations. Asia ex-Japan managers are up 14.87% for the year, leading the table among strategic mandates with underlying Greater China and Indian managers up 22.16% and 19.36% year-to-date respectively. Japan focused funds are up 8.83% over the same period.

Rhicon in Singapore has launched a new Asia-focused macro strategy managed by Brian Quartarolo (ex-Caxton, Graham, Goldman Sachs).

Sadayuki Horie

Sadayuki Horie has departed Nomura after a very long career with the firm, where he most recently worked in pension fund management research roles at Nomura Research Institute. His new position is as governor and auditor of the Government Pension Investment Fund. He has earlier served as deputy chairman of the investment advisory committee at GPIF in 2014-16. He is also a vising professor at Osaka University of Economics Graduate School.

HFC Advisory Group has awarded the Hedge Funds Club scholarship for the Henley Executive Hedge Fund Program in Asia to Kameshwara Suppiah. “Since 2005, the Hedge Funds Club has been supporting the hedge fund industry in Asia by connecting hedge funds and investors. Henley Business School’s hedge fund program, taught by seasoned industry practitioners, helps to shape the future of the hedge fund industry.  We have the same goals and it is a pleasure for us to partner with Henley,” says HFC’s founder Stefan Nilsson. “We selected Kameshwara for the first Hedge Funds Club scholarship from a pool of very diverse and motivated people. We think he has the right mix of eagerness, motivation and competitiveness to do well on the course and in the hedge fund industry.” Kameshwara Suppiah, a graduate of the National University of Singapore, will join this month’s intake of the Henley course in Singapore. The course is currently being run in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore and will soon launch in New York and London.

Alvin Fan, OPIM

OP Investment Management, the hedge fund incubation platform led by Alvin Fan in Hong Kong, has made a strategic investment in FundSeeder, an emerging financial software company located in the US. FundSeeder was founded by Jack Schwager (of “Markets Wizard” fame), Emanuel Balarie, and James Bibbings.

Katsuyuki Kuki, JP Morgan’s chairman of banking in Japan, has left the firm to join Blackstone as Japan chairman. Earlier in his career he has worked at Japan Development Bank, Shearson Lehman Hutton, UBS and Lehman Brothers.

Marcus Blomberg

Marcus Blomberg, a former trader at the now defunct OGI Global Macro Fund in Japan, has been appointed  Head of Strategic Allocation and Quantitative Analysis at The 4th Swedish National Pension Fund (AP4). He was most recently Deputy CIO at AMF and has also worked at Länsförsäkringar, Alfred Berg and ABN AMRO.

Hari Ravisankar

Hari Ravisankar has left Janchor Partners to set up his own hedge fund firm in Hong Kong. Before spending the past six years at Janchor, Hari was educated in India and then spent time working in New York at Wolfacre Global, Chilton and Morgan Stanley. He started his career with Deutsche Bank in London following his MBA. Hari’s new firm, Ishana Capital, will start trading on 1st September. It is understood that Hong Kong-based seeder HS Group is among the early investors. Ishana will take longer term bets on stocks based on fundamental research. Mark Wittet (ex-Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs) is Ishana’s COO and Silas Xu (ex-Turiya, Blackstone, Kaiwu Capital) and Tushar Maloo (ex-Apax Partners, One East Partners, Kora Management) are partners in the firm.

According to Eurekahedge: As of July 2017 year-to-date, Asian funds have recorded a growth in AUM of US$10.3 billion, with US$6.6 billion accounted for by performance-based gains while the remainder, roughly US$3.6 billion has come through net investor allocations. Asia ex-Japan managers are up 12.57% for the year – leading the table among strategic mandates with underlying Greater China and Indian managers up 18.43% and 19.31% year-to-date respectively. Japan focused funds are up 5.71% over the same period.

Kevin Tham

Värde Partners, the distressed debt and buyout-focused fund manager, has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Kevin Tham for a role in Singapore. Tham was most recently an MD in Merrill’s global and special situations group. Earlier in his career he was at ABN AMRO and Peregrine.