16/11/2011 Author: Elana Margulies

EJF Capital launches new Greater China offering

EJF Capital, the Virginia-based hedge fund manager, has launched a new offering focused on Greater China, HFMWeek has learned, following the return of portfolio manager Victor Li.  

Li rejoined EJF to launch the new offering after spending two years as a portfolio manager for China Southern Fund Management, where he managed the Global Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund, the first QDII mutual fund in China. Between 2001 and 2007, he was the primary hedge fund portfolio manager for both the EJF Healthcare Fund and FBR Life Sciences Funds.

Jiayi Li, founding partner of Access Pointe China (APC), a China-focused independent research firm, said it is an opportune time for hedge funds to invest in the region because no country offers investors the kind of growth prospects that China does.  

“Recent headlines calling for much lower Chinese growth are missing the longer term economic trajectory of China,” she said, noting that Chinese retail sales are set to reach RMB30trn ($4.7trn) by 2015, up 15% annually over the next four years.

EJF Capital was co-founded in September 2005 by Emanuel Friedman, former co-chairman and co-CEO of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group (FBR); and Neal Wilson, former senior managing director for the Alternative Asset Investment and Private Wealth Management groups at FBR.