NEWS
Woori and NewAlpha announce first joint seed investment with Mosaic
25 February 2013
Category:
News, Asia, Global
By Asia Asset Management
Woori Absolute Partners (WAP), the Singapore-based alternative investment platform of Woori Investment & Securities (WIS), and NewAlpha Asset Management (NewAlpha), the Paris-based global hedge fund incubation specialist, have announced the first strategic investment of the Woori NewAlpha Fund LP with Mosaic Asset Management Pte Ltd, a new Singapore-based registered fund management company, focused on Asian equity strategies.
Mosaic was founded by Tristan Edwards, chief investment officer, and Greg Laughlin, chief operating officer, both of who are from Australia and have known each other for over 25 years.
Mr. Edwards spent three years at Brevan Howard in London where he last served as head of execution desk before joining Trafalgar Capital as a portfolio manager managing the asian equity portfolio from 2007 to 2010, during which he was based in both London and Hong Kong. Prior to that, he worked at Goldman Sachs Asset Management in Melbourne as an equity analyst and equity trader.
Mr. Laughlin has 11 years of experience at Credit Suisse and has worked at the Hong Kong, London and New York offices where he last served as a director in prime services. In total, he commands 17 years in control; risk management and hedge fund structured financing.
The two principals have also brought on board Andrew Willersdorf who has nine years of experience having started his career with the Goldman Sachs graduate program in Melbourne, Australia specialising in Australian equities for nearly three years before moving to London to spend six years covering Australian and Asian equities, then subsequently global cross products desks.
The Mosaic Trading Fund, which will launch in March 2013, deploys a fully hedged, short-term trading strategy that focuses on supply and demand imbalances prevalent in Asian equity markets. This unique trading strategy in Asia has delivered strong results when Mr. Edwards was responsible for the Asian portfolio within the Trafalgar Trading Fund, where it achieved four consecutive strong years of positive absolute returns by deploying a similar strategy.
Together with Woori NewAlpha’s initial seed investment, Mosaic will manage approximately US$100 million, once Mosaic finalises a significant allocation by a large North American institutional investor by way of a managed account.
“Tristan has established a successful investment track record as a portfolio manager running alpha driven equity strategies in Asia. He has demonstrated an ability to consistently deliver positive absolute returns on a risk-adjusted basis over the past several years – particularly during challenging market conditions,” said Edward Moon, CIO of Woori Absolute Partners. “Our first seed transaction underscores the unique global strength of the Woori NewAlpha alliance through our ability to source, identify and forge strategic partnerships with “best of breed” emerging managers, and highlights the compelling investment opportunity set represented by the early stage hedge fund space in Asia.”
Commenting on the strategic deal, Antoine Rolland, CEO of NewAlpha adds: “This first seed investment for the Woori NewAlpha Fund marks a very significant step in our ability to capture meaningful investment opportunities in Asia Pacific markets and meets the highest expectations of our financial sponsors, investors and other hedge fund allocators. In this respect, Mosaic differentiates strongly from its peers by the considerable amount of investment experience of the team in alpha-rich asset classes such as Asian cash equities. We are very excited by the prospects of supporting Mosaic in building a successful business.”
Mr. Edwards of Mosaic added: “We are very pleased to have such a strong seed partner in Woori Absolute Partners and NewAlpha Asset Management. Being able to leverage their joint experience and distribution capabilities with emerging managers is a tremendous asset, particularly in the early stage of our fund’s growth. This strategic partnership with Woori and NewAlpha is a clear endorsement of the disciplined investment, operational and risk management processes that Mosaic has developed. Our short-term hedged trading strategy is quite unique within Asia and is the driver of our objective to produce strong absolute returns with low volatility and low correlation to the market.”
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