Swedish investment manager East Capital is to open for business in Russia's fast growing mutual fund market next year. The Stockholm-based firm, which is already one of the biggest investors in Russia, received a licence to manage mutual funds and a brokerage licence in Russia earlier this year. Established in 1997, East Capital is an asset manager specialising in Eastern European and the CIS financial markets, with around €5.1 billion in assets under management. Speaking to WealthBriefing at an investor conference in Moscow, East Capital founder Peter Elam Håkansson said his firm had outperformed its rival emerging market managers this year despite the market's volatility. "Our Russia fund is up 18 per cent which is well ahead of the RTS index. As a result, our inflows have been good with lots of new flows coming in from Middle Eastern and Hong Kong institutions for the first time," he said. Mr Håkansson said his fund managers had benefited after selling down its 40 per cent exposure to oil and gas to historic lows of 23 per cent earlier this year. Instead, they bought into fast-growing but more obscure companies such as real estate developer Open Investments, car manufacturer Severstal-Avto and the Far East Shipping Company. East Capital also unveiled plans to list a new subsidiary East Capital Explorer on the OMX Nordic Exchange. Mr Håkansson added: "East Capital has proven its ability to identify profitable investments in this part of the world. This is a logical next step in making investments in Eastern Europe even more accessible." The new company will invest in various East Capital funds as well as make direct investments. The new company's IPO slated for 9 November could raise €300 million. Carnegie Investment Bank, Citigroup Global Markets and Morgan Stanley International have been named the IPO's global joint coordinators.