Ascalon Capital Managers, the boutique asset managers owned by Westpac Banking Corp., has added a ninth fund manager: Asian hedge fund Canning Park Capital.
Sydney-based Ascalon has taken a 30 per cent stake in Singapore-based Canning Park, a long-short equity fund manager that invests in 10 Asian markets. It was founded in July 2010 by Jason Rich, David Thompson and James Hyndes.
“Ascalon believes that good quality alternative managers remain under-represented in many institutional and high-net-worth investor portfolios and a long-short Asian equity manager may be appropriate,” says Andrew Landman, Ascalon chief executive, in a statement.
Landman told I&T News in December the firm was seeking to invest in Asian-based funds in 2012 after taking a 35 per cent stake in Hong Kong-based event-driven fund Athos Capital about a month ago.
The fund managers Ascalon has taken stakes in, usually a shareholding of between 25 per cent and 45 per cent, manage about $4.5 billion. Westpac provides seed funding for the funds as well as business development, compliance and accounting.
Ascalon had net inflows into its partner firms of about $1 billion in the 12 months to September 30, says Jason Collins, head of business development at Ascalon.
“The team at Canning Park have known the executives at Asclaon for several years and we have great confidence in the individuals we will be partnering with as we embark on a new growth phase for the business,” says Thompson, a Canning Park principal, in a statement.
