Singapore hedge fund FengHe to open Hong Kong office

By Summer Zhen

HONG KONG, March 18 (Reuters) - FengHe Fund Management, which has assets under management (AUM) of about $9 billion, plans to open an office in Hong Kong in the second half this year to expand its geographical footprint, the Singapore-based hedge fund said on Wednesday.

The firm has leased office space in Two International Finance Centre in the Central business district and is in the process of applying for an asset management license, FengHe CEO Kwek Hyen Yong told Reuters.

The 17-year-old firm said its AUM more than doubled over the past year, bucking a trend where the industry's inflows have largely been concentrated in quant-driven and multi-manager hedge funds.

Its flagship Asia Fund, which mainly invests in stocks in Japan, South Korea and Greater China, was up 17.8% for the first two months of 2026 before falling 3.5% due to turmoil driven by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, leaving it up 14.2% year-to-date as of March 16, Kwek said.

The fund was up 27.3% in 2025 after gaining 10.3% in 2024.

A number of hedge funds and trading firms have stepped up their presence in Hong Kong over the past year, attracted by its deep pools of investment talent and a market recovery.

Last year, U.S. trading firm Jane Street said it planned to rapidly expand its Hong Kong office space, while large multi-manager fund Point72 Asset Management has been growing its operations in the city.

FengHe also has a representative office in Tokyo. But the firm said its expansion is more about talent and driven less by market conditions.

"As we continue to hire across Asia, we aim to provide greater flexibility to our existing team members and new joiners who prefer to be based in their chosen cities," said Kwek, who has been with the fund since 2011.

The firm will start with a "small core team" in Hong Kong and may increase headcount in the coming years, he said.

FengHe was co-founded in 2009 by veteran investor Matt Hu and Wu Jiong, an angel investor and former chief technology officer at Alibaba Group 9988.HK.