City Financial Investment, the London-based independent fund manager, has launched an Asian macro fund, with effect from the first quarter of 2014.

The new fund will be managed by Geoffrey Barker in a joint venture with City Financial Investment Company (Hong Kong), from its offices at Queen’s Road Central in Hong Kong.

Barker was previously director of Ballingal Investment Advisors for more than seven years, where he set up and ran the firm’s BIA Pacific Macro Fund.

The joint venture forms part of City Financial’s strategy to attract fund managers who can exploit opportunities in the capital markets, the firm said in a statement.

In other recent developments, last month City Financial Investment appointed Peter Toogood as an investment director and Gill Hutchinson as head of investment research.