Samsung Asset plans new global macro fund

Samsung Asset Management, the Korean manager that oversees $1 billion in hedge fund assets, will start a global macro fund next quarter as it seeks to diversify outside of its home market.

The fund, which has yet to be named, will start with $20 million and seek to profit from broad trends in currency, stock, bond and commodity markets, Heo Yoon-ho, head of the firm’s hedge fund division, said in an interview in his office in Jung District in Seoul.

“We have had issues with liquidity in trading Korean stock markets as most of our equity hedge funds only invest in Korean stocks, so we have been preparing the macro fund for a long time,” he said.

Samsung Asset Management’s decision to start the fund comes as global macro hedge funds have come under pressure from investors.

Since 2014, 255 such strategies have closed, a jump compared to the 460 in the entire 2003 to 2013 period, according to data compiled by Eurekahedge.

London-based Omni Partners announced plans to shut down last month, while investors in Brevan Howard Asset Management’s macro fund asked to pull $1.4 billion from the strategy in April.

Samsung Asset Management was initially founded in 1998 as Samsung Life Investment Trust Management and managed $168 billion as of Dec. 31, including three hedge fund strategies.

In March, it started a fund of hedge funds with Chicago-based Mesirow Financial, Heo said.

The Global Multi-Strategy Hedge Fund has $10 million in assets and invests in long-short equity, relative-value and event-driven strategies.

Heo will be the lead portfolio manager for the new macro fund, which will invest in developed and emerging markets. Bloomberg