Secretive summer launch for PCA, a sovereign wealth-backed China fund

A shroud of secrecy envelops a new hedge fund launch that is planned for early summer. We can reveal that the name of this new firm is PCA, and it will be headquartered in Beijing and Hong Kong, where it will run a Greater China strategy and is targeted to launch with $500 million.

What makes this fund especially interesting is that it is understood to be sovereign wealth-backed. We can’t say for sure which sovereign wealth fund it is, but all the pointers are that it will be China’s own domestic sovereign wealth fund CIC.

That will make PCA an extremely rare beast. Bagging CIC as a cornerstone investor is the best ticket in Greater China and many funds covet such a recognition.

CIC has invested in hedge funds since 2008, including $500 million to Blackstone Group, $200 million to Morgan Stanley (to invest in hedge funds), $1 billion to Oaktree Capital Management and $200 million to Capula Investment Management.

CIC has also recently given out mandates to three Korea-based managers for Korea strategies: Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Korea), Samsung Asset Management and Truston Asset Management.

In charge of the PCA operation in Beijing is an ex-Platinum Growth executive, a well-connected individual whom we believe to be named Hang Hu. PCA will start out in Beijing with a 12-person strong team. Taking a senior position in the Hong Kong office is Eddie Lau, a former Merrill Lynch trader.

Service providers are not known yet, but sources indicate that Goldman Sachs has agreed to be PCA's prime broker.