Samena Capital, an investment manager specialising in Asian and emerging markets outside Europe, has launched a Cayman-domiciled Japan Absolute Return Fund.
The equity long/short product will be lead managed by Ramiz Hassan and Celia Farnon, who together have more than 40 years’ experience investing in Japanese equities.
The fund, which has been seeded with US$25m, will invest in large and mid cap stocks and the managers said they are seeking to benefit from what they described as a “perfect storm” for such a fund.
Features of such conditions, according to Hassan, included Japanese blue chip company valuations being at their lowest for 40 years, and an upcoming general election that, whoever wins, is likely to be followed by government action to stabilise the economy and measures to underpin equity markets.
Pension reforms and increasing moves to engage with emerging centres of wealth and manufacturing such as Asian nations, India, the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) also augur well for Japan, said Hassan.
Samena – an acronym of Subcontinent, Asia, Middle East and North Africa, the regions in which the firm specialises in investing – was founded last August by a group of entrepreneurs, primarily from the Middle East, though also the UK and Switzerland.
It launched its first fund, Samena Special Situations, in October 2008 after raising US$200m in assets.
Fund facts:
Share classes: Euro / Yen / Dollar
Administrator: Deutsche Bank
Auditor: KPMG Dublin
Prime broker: Deutsche Bank
Domicile: Cayman Islands
Management/performance fee: TBC
Minimum investment: TBC
Redemption period: TBC
