City Financial Investment Company has acquired management of the Convex Strategy, with current assets of USD180 million, from Fortress Investment Group in Asia.

The strategy will be managed by chief investment officer David Dredge and the investment team who join City Financial’s regulated entity in Singapore and managing director Julian Ings-Chambers in London.
 
The acquisition further expands City Financial’s Asian business alongside the Asian macro team based in Hong Kong and the Japanese equities team.
 
David Dredge has 25 years of Asian investment experience. Prior to joining Fortress in 2011, he was a managing director and portfolio manager at Artradis Fund Management in Singapore, where he was responsible for the fixed income aspects of their volatility strategy. Previously, he had built and run Asian and global EM trading businesses for RBS (ABN AMRO Group), Bankers Trust and Bank of America.
 
Convex Strategy was launched in May 2012 and invests in volatility markets both in Asia and globally. By identifying and implementing asymmetric and positively convex risk positions, the strategy is designed to deliver negatively correlating returns and outsize, positive returns in periods of heightened capital market volatility or dislocation. JP Morgan will act as prime broker.
 
Dredge says: “We are grateful for this opportunity to continue our work with the strategy and are excited by the opportunities presented to us now, both at City Financial and by markets globally.”
 
Andrew Williams, chief executive, City Financial says: “David Dredge is a seasoned and well-respected hedge fund manager, having developed a proven process and track record in volatility trading. David and the team’s unique investment expertise aligns perfectly with City Financial’s broader plans to offer investors a highly differentiated range of investment strategies.”