The head of Highbridge Capital Management’s Asia investments, Carl Huttenlocher, has told colleagues that he is leaving the firm to start his own hedge f
The head of Highbridge Capital Management’s Asia investments, Carl Huttenlocher, has told colleagues that he is leaving the firm to start his own hedge fund, reported the Wall Street Journal this week. The multi-billion dollar hedge fund firm owned by JP Morgan has started to unwind the Asia equities portfolio managed by Huttenlocher, believed to total around USD2billion, with an estimated USD1.4billion in holdings having already been sold by the firm to ensure best price before announcing the news to investors. Huttenlocher joined Highbridge in 2002 and oversaw the Highbridge Asia Opportunities Fund in addition to some 8 per cent of the firm’s New York-based multi-strategy hedge fund. Huttenlocher and his team had successfully raised hundreds of millions of dollars in new assets since ’09, making the Asia Opportunities fund one of Asia’s largest: news of his departure has apparently been met with surprise. Highbridge founder and chief executive, Glenn Dubin has been in Hong Kong this week along with COO Todd Builione to meet with staff, which number some two dozen, to spell out the firm’s Asia plans. It is believed that the team will stay in tact and continue to manage Asian assets in the multi-strategy fund, with a view to possibly adding additional assets further down the line. New York managers Alec McAree and Mark Vannacore will step into the breach to help lead and support the Asia team.
