Alternative Investment Awards 2016

www.wealthandfinance-intl.com 63 Capital Company: Kriya Capital Email: [email protected] Location: Hong Kong Tel: +852-39831238 www.kriyacapital.com AI16035 Kriya The Kriya China Fund looks for multiyear landscape shifts in China, and the winners and losers that are most leveraged to those changes. Han Ching Choong, Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager at Kriya Capital, to get the inside story on the firm’s successful Kriya China Fund. Han Ching Choong explains how changes to the investment landscape in China can be used to create profits for investors. “Historically, such changes have created anomalies that persist for a period of time, typi- cally years, and at the right price and under the right conditions, these can create abnormal returns.” “We believe that the most sustainable returns are generated by a portfolio of such positions. For example, the effect of a shift in China’s economic growth leadership away from ‘bricks and mortar’ towards higher quality, more sustainable drivers and the trend of capital being no longer free – the impact of these are significant and lasting, across many different industries from commodities to retail, affecting corporate and consumer behaviour overtime. Asked about current industry trends, Han Ching says that, in terms of investing, there is currently a relative lack of sustainable trends, macro and micro, compared to the past. “In terms of business, absolute return funds still carry a stigma from 2008 and institutions that used to invest in smaller funds have largely changed or disappeared,” she says. “The investing institution as a whole seems to have migrated more towards a ‘self-protection’ mode, at least as much as helping clients to generate returns. In my experience, committees generally make decisions by defaulting to consensus and that sort of output is not necessarily correlated with optimal investments for their clients, even if it does protect the firm against a potentially irate customer and vigilant regulator. At the end of the day, people want sustainable returns on their savings and that is what we try to offer as that is also what we try to do for ourselves.” The regulatory standards for the investing industry in Hong Kong are high by global standards, and the regulators are vigilant, says Han Ching. “Investors should take more, not less, comfort from having their assets managed with the eye of the HK SFC on the manager. Hong Kong is getting more attractive by the day as a location for investing the way we do – as Chinese companies increasingly value investor relations, corporate access in Hong Kong has improved. While global companies are also increasingly valuing the potential investor base in China and access to them has also improved in Hong Kong.” Looking to the future, Han Ching says Kriya’s continuing success may see it grow over the coming year. “As investor interest is growing (both from institutions, family offices and high-net-worth individuals taking a more proactive approach to managing their wealth), we may need to ex- pand the team in business development. As Hong Kong is a great place to manage money, we are also seeing interest in launching other funds.” Best Event-Driven China Hedge Fund (5 Years): The Kriya China Fund & Most Influential Woman in Hedge Funds 2016 - Asia Pacific