Hedge fund Elliott Management to shift operations to London and Tokyo as it closes its Hong Kong office
- Bank of East Asia said it would sell its life insurance business in September after a long-running legal battle with hedge fund
- Elliott has had a presence in Hong Kong for 15 years
Paul Singer’s Elliott Management plans to close its Hong Kong office and shift its remaining staff to Tokyo and London, as the downsizing by one of the biggest foreign financial firms amid the city’s worst recession culminates in its exit.
The US hedge fund has been winding down its operations in the city for several years and stopped investment activities in Hong Kong at the beginning of the year, according to people familiar with the matter, who were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly. Its Hong Kong operation was reduced from a staff of about 40 in 2019 to fewer than 20 employees, at Chater House in the Central business district, the same building as JPMorgan Chase.
James Smith, then head of Elliott’s Hong Kong office, moved to London in 2018 and left the firm the next year. Since his departure, Elliott’s activist campaigns in Asia have primarily been run out of London and Tokyo, one of the people said.
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Mass arrests of Hong Kong opposition lawmakers, activists under national security law
The Financial Times first reported the move late Tuesday.