How did you get started at Man Investments?
I had been working in Asia since 1996 for Jardine Fleming and then at J.P. Morgan in Hong Kong, Korea and Japan before moving back to Australia and joining Man Investments in 2003. Man is the world’s largest independent alternative asset manager, offering a comprehensive range of transparent trading strategies across the liquidity spectrum. Following the recent acquisition of the multi-strategy specialist GLG, the business currently has around $63 billion of assets under management globally (as of October 14, 2010).
So you joined Man Investments in Australia. Tell us more about the company.
Man established its office in Hong Kong in 1995, covering Asia, and the business has been growing steadily in the region since then. The Asian business now contributes a significant part of the group’s global assets. The team here comprises product structuring, sales and marketing, compliance, and operations, allowing Man to meet the regulatory requirements of the various jurisdictions and to tailor the group’s offerings for individual markets.
When did you move here?
I relocated back to Hong Kong in early 2007. During the past few years we have significantly increased our footprint around the region. We have opened an office in Singapore and built out our sales and marketing activities that support the region. We launched the first onshore fund of futures fund in Taiwan in 2009 with a strong local partner and have received approval for a Ucits managed futures fund in Singapore dollars, which is managed by AHL. This is the first fund of its type to be recognised in Singapore and it launched on November 1.
Tell us about your flagship fund in Hong Kong -- the Man AHL Diversified Futures fund.
Our Hong Kong office has launched a series of onshore funds for the local market since 1998, among them, the Man AHL Diversified Futures is a well recognised open-ended fund for retail investors. The fund is managed by AHL, Man’s industry–leading quantitative managed futures manager. The fund targets substantial medium-term capital growth, while controlling risk. It has historically behaved differently from stocks and bonds and hence it is a valuable tool for diversification. The fund has recorded an annualised return of 11.4% since its inception in 1998 (until September 27, 2010) and demonstrated low correlations with world stocks and Hong Kong stocks, which were -0.30 and -0.11 respectively, during this period.
Have you got similar products in the rest of the region?
As I mentioned earlier, Man has a history of bringing onshore funds to many parts of the world. In Asia, we successfully launched the first onshore futures fund in Taiwan last year and had a managed futures fund recognised in Singapore recently. We continue to work closely with regulators around the region in order to identify opportunities in the onshore space. This can often take many years but is well worth the effort.
¬ Haymarket Media Limited. All rights reserved.
