By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
BOSTON (Reuters) – U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management is closing its Hong Kong office after moving responsibility for its Asian investment decisions to London and Tokyo over the past three years.
Elliott, the 44-year old firm best known for its activist investments, told investors that its Hong Kong workforce of about 20 is being moved to London and Tokyo, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
The firm has made a number of prominent investments in Asia over the years, including in SoftBank, Bank of East Asia and Hyundai Motor Co, and the closing of the Hong Kong office does not signal a shift in investment priorities, the source said.
Over the past three years the size of Elliott’s Hong Kong office has shrunk from roughly 100 people as portfolio managers moved to other locations. At the moment there are no portfolio managers based in Hong Kong, the source said.
While Elliott’s decision is being made largely for efficiency reasons, it does coincide with rising political tensions in the region.
In June China’s parliament passed national security legislation for Hong Kong, setting the stage for the most radical changes to the former British colony’s way of life since it returned to Chinese rule more than two decades ago.
Elliott’s move, first reported by the Financial Times, will leave the firm with offices in the United States, London and Tokyo.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by David Goodman)
