Gottex Fund Management will partner with Headland Strategic, a newly launched firm in Hong Kong focused on seeding hedge funds in Asia.
Headland will look to provide seed capital of $75 million to $100 million for managers coming from global hedge fund firms, with the goal of helping launch two or three teams a year for the next three years, said Max Gottschalk, CEO of Gottex Asia, in a telephone interview.
Gottex will take a minority stake in Headland, said Mr. Gottschalk, who declined to give a precise figure.
Headland's co-founders, CEO Johannes Kaps and Chief Investment Officer Michael Garrow, veterans, respectively, of Blackstone Group and Goldman Sachs, own a majority of the firm, with V-Nee Yeh, co-founder of Hong Kong-based Value Partners, and two family offices in Asia likewise holding minority stakes.
Gottex will provide Headland with a range of services, including “infrastructure, middle and back office, legal, research and due diligence functions,” Mr. Gottschalk said. It will likewise provide those services to the emerging managers Headland seeds, should they want them, he said.
In a separate interview, Anna Klavins, Headland's chief operating officer, noted that her firm's willingness to provide “meaningful capital,” in a region where many hedge fund seeding operations offer $25 million or less, will leave it well placed to attract talented investors.
Mr. Gottschalk said Headland will extend that capital to emerging hedge fund teams in Asia for a period of three years in return for an “economic carry,” or revenue-sharing arrangement, extending over 10 years.
Headland's investment fund will launch in January or February of 2014.
