Credit Suisse’s asset management division has reached an agreement with Kimco International to become Kimco's exclusive distributor. 

Kimco is a Singapore-based hedge fund manager that employs a Japanese equity long/short investment strategy.

This arrangement further solidifies the collaboration between Credit Suisse and Kimco, and enables Kimco to focus on its investment performance and portfolio management role, while Credit Suisse administers all aspects of the marketing and distribution efforts.

Neil Harvey, managing director and head of Asia Pacific and emerging markets globally for Credit Suisse's asset management division, says: "We are focused on expanding our leadership in emerging markets in the alternative investments space. As part of that, increasing our product and client service footprint in the Asia Pacific region continues to be an important objective for Credit Suisse. This alliance gives us the opportunity to pursue high margin, capital-efficient businesses capable of leveraging our global platform and our relationship with Kimco will help meet the needs of global investors looking for portfolio solutions."

Toshikatsu Kimura, founder and chief investment officer of Kimco, adds: "We are pleased to have one of the largest and most respected financial institutions as our global distributor. A long period of market underperformance has reduced the amount of capital and the number of both researchers and investment managers engaged in Japanese equities, which, we believe, creates more opportunities for the remaining players to obtain alpha in the Japanese equity market."

Credit Suisse plans to roll out its worldwide distribution of Kimco products in late November.