(Bloomberg) — Three more global hedge funds are expanding to Hong Kong, providing a relief to the city that’s anxious to revive its appeal as a regional financial hub.
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US multistrategy firm Hudson Bay Capital Management LP, UK credit shop Sona Asset Management and New York-based Centiva Capital LP are establishing a foothold in the city, said people with knowledge of the matter.
Hudson Bay, the Stamford, Connecticut-based firm overseeing about $20 billion, registered a Hong Kong entity in early October, according to government records. So far, its recruits in the city include Jack Truong, who led Segantii Capital Management Ltd.’s Asia business development team, and Dong Yinfei, a former Segantii convertible bond trader, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.
John Aylward’s Sona, which manages $10.1 billion and focuses on European public and private credit, incorporated a Hong Kong unit in August, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News. It’s looking to staff it with relocated employees and new hires, a person said.
Centiva Capital received a regulatory license for its Hong Kong office in late November, after expanding to Singapore three years ago, according to information posted on the website of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission. Asia head Matthew Haudenschield and Piers Cassidy, a trader focused on equity capital markets deals, are among employees who have relocated to Hong Kong after sitting out Covid restrictions in Singapore, said a person with knowledge of the matter.
Hong Kong is rolling out the red carpet for newcomers, as officials try to reverse the talent exodus during years of Covid restrictions. The financial hub is facing growing rivalry from Singapore and Middle Eastern cities as China’s economy slows and geopolitical tensions mount.
Hudson Bay has been toying with the idea of a Hong Kong office for years. The hires suggest the preparations are gathering pace for its seventh office globally and first in Asia. Sona operates out of London and New York currently.
Representatives for Hudson Bay, Sona and Centiva declined to comment.
Hong Kong has traditionally been the largest Asian hub for hedge funds located outside of China. But traders of currencies, fixed income and commodities have been gravitating to Singapore. More recently, Abu Dhabi and Dubai have attracted global and regional hedge funds with their low taxes, more friendly time zones and close proximity to markets such as India.
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Still, Hong Kong has chalked up some recent wins. Multistrategy firms such as New York-based Jain Global LLC and Arrowpoint Investment Partners, led by Singapore-based Jonathan Xiong, have landed in the city, tapping pools of talent not available in those other locations.
Such firms are also seizing on troubles at a few Asia-based rivals to beef up their ranks. The Asia scene has long been dominated by stock pickers using fundamental analysis, leaning on industry and corporate growth as well as supportive market environments for profit. Those that are savvy at bearish bets, trade more frequently or specialize in other asset classes are in short supply.
Centiva hired Prithvi Raj Dameracharla as a Hong Kong-based credit portfolio manager. He held a similar job at BFAM Partners (Hong Kong) Ltd. Led by former Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. proprietary trader Benjamin Fuchs, BFAM was once among Asia’s fastest-growing hedge funds with almost nearly $5 billion of assets in 2021, before losing money and investors after its bets on Chinese real estate developer bonds soured.
Hudson Bay is among firms that are hiring from Segantii, which was once among the biggest hedge funds in Asia with assets peaking at $6.2 billion in 2021 and 151 employees as late as March 2024. It returned client money and laid off staff after Hong Kong’s securities watchdog charged the firm, founder Simon Sadler and former trader Daniel La Rocca with insider trading ahead of a 2017 block trade. The three pleaded not guilty in December. The case is heading for trial, scheduled to begin in early May 2026.
While Sadler was known as Asia’s block trade king, his firm also assembled teams that traded around mergers and index rebalancing, or arbitraging the pricing gaps of related securities, among other strategies. The so-called relative-value traders have been sought after by global multistrategy firms that have absorbed the lion’s share of new capital into the hedge fund industry since 2017 and are expanding to sustain returns.
Petru Brediceanu, a former Segantii convertible bonds and credit portfolio manager, has started in Hudson Bay’s Dubai office. Other recent Segantii departees have started new jobs at global firms including Citadel, Jain Global, Jump Trading LLC and Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC.
After dipping during the Covid years, Hong Kong saw a net addition of about 830 financial professionals licensed with the Securities and Futures Commission in the four months to October, according to a Bloomberg News analysis. That pushed the total licensees to a record of nearly 42,000.
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