The macro fund is closing after making wrong-way bets, and now returning money to affected investors. Overall, macro fund strategies ended 2023 on a down-note.

Asia Genesis Asset Management, which runs a macro hedge fund in Singapore, is shutting the fund after ill-fated bets on Chinese and Japanese stocks inflicted “unprecedented” losses, according to Bloomberg yesterday.

WealthBriefingAsia contacted AGAM for comment on the report; it may update in due course. There was no reference to the fund closing that WBA could obtain from the firm’s website.

The news service report said that Chua Soon Hock’s Asia Genesis Macro Fund fell by 18.8 per cent in the first weeks of January. The report cited a letter sent to investors. The fund is returning money to investors after losses on long Hong Kong and China equities positions as well as short Nikkei bets, according to the letter.

“I have reached the stage whereby my confidence as a trader is lost,” Chua, chief investment officer, was quoted as saying. Tough trading since October and a “disastrous” January “has proven that my past experience is no longer valid and instead, is working against me,” he was reported as saying. The report said the firm did not respond to a request for comment.

Chua, who has 39 years’ experience in fund management, founded the business in 1999. The chief executive of the firm is Tan Chay Chang, who joined AGAM from HSBC Singapore; other senior figures are Sean Tan, head of trading, partner at the fund, and Ian Seow, CIO of the Trinity Macro Fund; Phyllis Phee, partner and chief operating officer, and Cheryl Chan, partner, business development.

The report added that AGAM managed $330.2 million at the start of the year.

The hedge fund sector as a whole ended 2023 with higher assets in total, rising to $4.11 trillion globally, a quarterly gain of more than $112 billion, according to Hedge Fund Research. 

The final quarter of 2023 was tough on macro strategies. Uncorrelated strategies fell, with the the HFRI Macro (Total) Index falling 0.6 per cent for the year, with mixed performance across fundamental and quantitative strategies. Total Macro capital declined by an estimated $22.4 billion in the final quarter, inclusive of net asset outflows of $12.2 billion for the quarter, reducing total macro strategy capital to $670.5 billion, HFR said.