Following the decision to shutter its RAB-Pi Asia Fund last October, which saw five people leave the investment team, RAB Capital allowed another four members to lPARA_BREAK_SENTINEL_9f8e7d6c

Following the decision to shutter its RAB-Pi Asia Fund last October, which saw five people leave the investment team, RAB Capital allowed another four members to leave in December, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg this week. The London-based hedge fund manager, whose assets have fallen to USD1.05billion according to a September statement, having peaked at USD7.2billion in 2007, is embarking on a cost-cutting exercise with Asia part of that process. It was apparently planning on starting an Asian deep-value fund but the idea was scrapped: four of the five-people team hired to run the fund were those that left in December. RAB is now focusing its attentions on its UK-managed funds, leaving it without any Asian hedge funds. It means that the Hong Kong office, RAB Capital (Asia) Ltd, now only has four people, headed up by CEO David Seex. In an official quote, passed on to Hedgeweek by Charlotte Kirkham, RAB Capital’s spokeswoman, Seex, commenting on the firm’s strategic realignment, said: “Our priority is regaining profitability as soon as possible. We have taken action to reduce our cost base in Asia and we are now focused on expanding our Asian investor base in our core products, several of which delivered strong returns in 2010. Asia remains an important part of RAB Capital’s future.”