FCA seeds first Asian hedge fund

FRM Capital Advisors (FCA), a division of Financial Risk Management (FRM), is making its first investment into an Asian hedge fund.

FCA said it would make a "significant" investment into the fund, to be launched in December by Isometric Capital Management.

The fund is Isometric's first launch following its foundation by Sanjiv Bhatia, the former head of Deephaven Capital Management's Asia office.

Following a fundamental research strategy to identify investment opportunities in Asian companies where it can identify a catalyst to drive investment returns, the fund will invest predominantly in equities although positions will range across the capital structure.

The fund is expected to launch with between $50 million and $75 million of assets under management.

FCA chief investment officer Neil Mason said the investment was the first the company has made outside of the US or Europe.

"Asian economies have shown their strength and there are numerous market inefficiencies that hedge funds can profit from. The industry has grown significantly in recent years and there are a number of high quality managers with interesting investment strategies," Mason said.

Bhatia said Isometric aim to have low correlation with the markets and to protect against downside volatility.

The investment is the third seeding deal announced by FCA in the past four months. It previously agreed strategic relationships with JD Capital and WestSpring Advisors.