Ex-CLSA’s Howel Thomas, who spent nine years at Asia’s leading independent brokerage firm becoming its Head of Options and Futures before leaving in 2005, has announced plans to launch his Wykeham Capital Asia Value Fund at the end of this month, reports AsianInvestor. CEO Thomas, who set up Wykeham Capital to manage the financial resources of family and friends, will now be opening up the USD2 million fund, which has a long-biased approach targeting small and micro caps, to external investors. It is understood that the fund will have the chance to short stocks if necessary, but this is not a typical activity for Thomas who will more likely go to cash in the event of company overvaluation. The portfolio currently holds between 15 and 20 stocks, with sector overweight positions in electronics manufacturing (21 per cent) and consumer manufacturing (18 per cent) respectively. “Right now, I’d tend to be staying away from banks, financial institutions, real estate, and any heavily leveraged business,” Thomas told AsianInvestor. The fund has gained +45 per cent over the last twelve months.