Investment

Asian hedge funds have held their ground

by Martin Frenette

Investing in Asia has always been fraught with dangers but also opportunities. For anyone following the markets of late, it’s been impossible not to formulate an opinion on China: everything from the meltdown in the A share market, to the slowdown of the economy, to the potential bubble in credit and devaluation of the yuan has rocked the markets worldwide. That being said, it’s a vibrant region, full of industrious people and as the second economy in the world, it is now impossible to avoid. The main issue has been the volatility (compounded by the general underperformance of all things EM) and since it’s been very hard from Europe to time the market, the idea was to find a way to maintain an allocation to the area but through local talent that can help us navigate these markets. Having gone from crisis to crisis with deeper drawdowns than what we usually see in the West, it must be said that Asian hedge fund managers are used to dealing with this kind volatility and, of late, have done better than their counterparts elsewhere.

To this effect, we have worked with Arowana Asset Management in Hong Kong that run our Luxembourg based fund in the region. Not only have they been able to give us exposure to the risk adjusted returns we would expect from hedge funds in the region, they have also picked the right managers. In what was far from being a supportive market environment for investors in the past 5 years (the MSCI Asia was -1.14% and the HSCEI -24.35%), the fund registered a positive double digit performance with the third of the volatility of the market, confirming our belief that fund managers in Asia can add a lot of value to investors.

Past performance is not indicative of future results. This article does not constitute an offer or solicitation to any person in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is not authorized or to any person to whom it would be unlawful to make such offer or solicitation.

 

 

 

 

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Antonio Mira
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Antonio Mira joined NS Partners in 2006 as Group Chief Financial Officer. He heads the corporate functions and is involved in coordinating and implementing the decisions of the Executive Committee.
An experienced bank auditor, Antonio started his career in 1995 with Arthur Andersen, where he worked for some 7 years before joining Ernst & Young in 2002 as a Senior Manager.
Antonio is a Swiss chartered accountant and a Business graduate of Lausanne University (HEC).

Sébastien Poiret
DEPUTY HEAD OF WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Sébastien Poiret joined NS Partners in 2008 and manages funds of hedge funds and private client mandates. He also oversees the development of the Group’s offices in Mauritius.

Prior to joining NS Partners, he served as a Trader, Head of Manager research and Portfolio Manager in the USA and Switzerland for a single hedge fund (1998-2004) and for Optimal (2004-2008), Grupo Santander’s fund-of-hedge funds operations.

Sébastien holds a Bachelor’s degree in Corporate Finance from the ESPEME Business School (EDHEC Group) and an MBA in Finance and Economics from the Institute of Business Administration, both in Nice.

Abir Oreibi
BOARD DIRECTOR

Abir Oreibi joined the Board of the NS Partners Group in 2018, where she brings her truly international perspective and rich experience.
Among many other ventures, Abir set up Alibaba.com’s first European office. After living and working in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok and London, she now lives in Geneva, where she is CEO of Lift Events, an organization that identifies technology trends, their business and social impact through the organization of events and open innovation programs. Issues related to the challenges and opportunities created by new technologies as well as the strategic responses from organizations are at the heart of Lift’s activities.
Abir holds a BA in Political Sciences from the University of Geneva. She is an investor, and member of advisory and innovation boards.

Romain Pidoux, CAIA

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Romain Pidoux joined NS Partners in 2011 and heads the Group’s Risk Management.
He started his financial career in 2005 as Head of Quantitative Analysis for a Swiss Family Office, selecting funds and managing portfolio allocation. In 2008, he switched to the alternative world and joined Peak Partners as hedge funds analyst.
He is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and holds a Master’s degree in international relations from the Graduate Institute of International Studies at Geneva University.

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