How Singapore’s QQQ Capital Management became the world’s best performing hedge fund with bets on Chinese education firms
- Mainland born Qian Yongqiang turns his Singaporean firm into the world’s best performing hedge fund with returns of 275 per cent this year
- The Yale graduate has concentrated his bets on Chinese education companies whose stocks have soared this year
Long before he ran the world’s best-performing hedge fund, Qian Yongqiang chaired China’s biggest online dating service.
The Yale graduate would spend hours tracking down attractive users with suspicious profiles, sifting through accounts and deleting thousands of scammers to improve the site’s authenticity and ensure its success.
Now he’s betting that same attention to detail and strong returns will help turn his Singaporean firm into a wealth management giant. Between January and September, QQQ Capital Management posted gains of 275 per cent, making it the top hedge fund in the world, according to Eurekahedge data. QQQ says assets under management rose to about US$1 billion last month, with most of the money coming from Qian.
The gains have come with concentration risks that many fund managers would balk at: QQQ has more than a third of its assets invested in Chinese education companies. While those stocks had soared this year, they’ve been hit with concerns about regulatory crackdowns and allegations of accounting fraud, and one has plunged in recent weeks amid downgrades from analysts.
“When we invest, we know everything about an industry, its top five people, their personality, their weakness, their greatness, everything about them,” Qian said in an interview.
