Tatler Asia's Most Influential honouree, Hermes Li, the prominent Hong Kong-based investor, has overseen an impressive performance from his Aspex hedge fund in the first half of 2024
Congratulations are in order for Hermes Li—Bloomberg has reported that Li’s hedge fund, Aspex, one of Asia’s largest, delivered returns of 21 per cent in the six months ending June.
This performance outpaced the average returns of Asia-focused equity hedge funds, which stood at just under 4 per cent for the same period, as per data from the Eurekahedge Pte Index.
The strong gains have helped boost Aspex’s assets under management to more than US $9 billion, solidifying its status as a heavyweight in the Asian hedge fund space.
Li, who founded Aspex in 2018, has earned a reputation as one of Asia’s most successful hedge fund managers, investing in unicorns and other promising start-ups in Asia. Among the businesses the company has backed since Li established it are Hong Kong-based travel booking platform Klook (Aspex was the leader of Klook’s US$200 million series E funding round in 2021, which also involved the likes of Sequoia Capital China and Softbank Vision Fund), South Korean online grocery company Kurly and game developer Npixel, and mainland Chinese companies including electric car maker Xpeng, online fresh produce supplier Dingdong Macai, and smart vehicle artificial intelligence chips manufacturer Horizon Robotics.
Before founding the company, Li was executive managing director and head of Asian equities for giant institutional alternative asset management firm Sculptor Capital Management, formerly OZ Capital Management, for which he was responsible for managing the OZ Asia Master Fund. Before joining that company in 2011, he was an executive director of Goldman Sachs.
His latest achievement with Aspex is sure to further cement his status as a leading light in Asia’s dynamic hedge fund industry.
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