Hong Kong based Ortus Capital Management is preparing to launch a new fund in March to try to win back investors who left the $1 billion hedge fund company after deep losses in its main fund in 2012 and 2013. Nishant Kumar from Reuters broke the news earlier today…
Ortus, run by former Lehman Brothers proprietary trader Joe Zhou, one of the best-known names in the Asian fund industry, has seen its assets drop from about $3 billion in 2012.
The new Ko-Zhou Fundamental FX Fund will use quantitative analysis to bet on 28 global currencies, including those of the leading 10 economies as well Asia and Latin America, according to a letter to investors seen by Reuters.
Ortus did not disclose start up capital but said the internally run fund returned 15.4% last year, nearly four times the gains in the Eurekahedge Macro Hedge Fund Index.
The launch comes at a torrid time for many currency hedge funds and follows losses for some of the world’s best-known macro funds, such as Harness, Fortress and COMAC Capital in January when Swiss franc rose sharply.
“Currencies reflect the relative strength and weakness of different countries, and as the global fundamental and monetary conditions diverge, we believe the fund is uniquely positioned to benefit from these opportunities,” Zhou told investors in the letter.
Ortus’s main fund largely avoided the shock spike move in the Swiss franc when the Swiss National Bank’s decision to remove a cap on the franc sent the currency soaring 40% against the euro in an instant. The fund was down 0.22% through mid-January, another letter to investors showed.
The main fund lost more than 17% in both 2012 and 2013 but gained 7.4% last year, recording its best annual performance since 2010.