Bob HoweÆs night at the opera

Financial consulting company Opera Solutions has acquired fund management company Geomatrix. An underlying equity long/short hedge fund, Akamai Pan-Asia Fund, is part of the deal and this fund will be renamed and relaunched as the Opera Pan-Asia Fund.

Bob Howe, the founder of Geomatrix and portfolio manager of the Akamai Pan-Asia Fund, will remain in his role after the reorganisation, and the fund itself, which was launched in July 2008, will continue with its existing strategy. The fund is down 17.49% since inception compared to a 22.3% fall for the MSCI Asia-Pacific index.

Opera Solutions was founded by a Harvard Business School classmate of Bob Howe and the intention is for the new proprietor to provide a higher operating budget, which will allow the fund's trader to relocate to Hong Kong, plus some new hiring, which will allow Bob Howe to conduct more company visits, pick stocks and build the business.

All agreements with existing shareholders, such as high watermarks and performance fees, and the terms for seed investors remain unchanged. The role of prime broker has been switched from Citi to MF Global.