Rock star hedge fund Golvis Investment goes to ground

The current status of Singapore-based hedge fund Golvis Investment is uncertain, after recent negative return postings and rumours circulating this week that the fund may have closed.

Golvis was “one of those rock star launches” recalled one fund of hedge funds manager. “Everybody at CLSA in 2013 was talking about it,” he said, referring to the broker’s investment conference held in September each year.

Reports of a 38% return in the first two months after launch on 6 January 2014 were splashed across the media. Those returns attracted investors to the fund, which launched with $100 million of employee capital and opened to third party capital in February 2014.

Negative returns in March 2014 contributed to the flagship Golvis Asia Opportunities Fund giving up more than half its early gains by mid-year. Several fund of hedge fund managers said they stopped receiving updates in November 2014, when Golvis’ then head of business development – Ryan Collins – left the firm.

“Golvis’ high volatility scared off investors” said Mark Hibbs, CIO of Adamas Asset Management. Institutional investors now represent two-thirds of hedge fund AUM globally, up from 20% a decade ago. Those investors place a premium on hedge fund managers’ ability to generate returns at lower levels of volatility.

Former proprietary traders often “don’t know what investors want in terms of managing volatility” said Paamco’s head of research David Walter. Golvis’ CIO Koji Gotoda is a former Goldman Sachs prop trader.

Market talk and the fact that the management company has gone off the radar suggest the hedge fund may have closed. AsianInvestor was unable to contact anyone at Golvis for comment. Head of operations Yasunari Mogi did not respond to emails and there was no answer to calls made to the Singapore-based hedge fund’s general line.

Golvis invested in multiple asset classes, including credit derivatives. The flagship strategy started as a Japan-focused fund but had a remit to invest in Asia more broadly.

Another source stated that “the lack of success there was self-inflicted” and described the hedge fund as “idiosyncratic in terms of what it did”.

The allure of hedge funds run by former prop traders may also be fading. Raghavendran Rajaraman – who worked as a trader for Citi, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley before joining family office Supernova Holdings in 2012 – joined Nomura last month according to his Linked In profile.

A spokesman for Nomura said that he could not confirm that Rajaraman has joined the firm.

“Nomura is the only big prop desk still out there” said one source.