Andor Capital to expandà maybe

Andor Capital Management, the American based hedge fund manager, is currently interviewing people around Asia with a view to potentially setting up a second office here. Sources in Asia report that the company is looking at Tokyo as a location for an office, but this could not be confirmed with Andor. The company currently has a research office in Taiwan and it is expected that any second office would have a similar function. This has been open since the company was launched, at start of October 2001.

Andor Capital was formed when Dan Benton split from partner Art Samberg and the company they jointly formed, Pequot Capital Management, and started his own firm. Besides the offices in the US and Taiwan, Andor has an office in London.

Andor Capital manages $9 billion, making is the second largest US hedge fund, according to a survey in the US hedge fund magazine, Absolute Return. Caxton Associates with $10.5 billion are the largest. Andor was reported to have been in some difficulty after the tech bubble burst due to its heavy investments in the sector, but it seems to have overcome these, seeing asset growth of $1.5 billion in 2002. This is particularly impressive given that many large equity managers have seen asset sizes fall following poor returns.

The company's website says that after a successful first year for its flagship fund, Andor Diversified Growth, it intends to launch other strategies in growth sectors such as healthcare and media while staying with its core competency of long/short equity.