The 12th annual Sohn Hong Kong Conference is set to take place on May 23, bringing together top investors in Asia to support women’s health initiatives. The event aims to raise money for research, education, prevention, and treatment of women’s health issues. Hedge fund managers from around the world will present their investment ideas at the conference.
Capitalizing on distressed opportunities is a common theme among the managers speaking at this year’s Sohn Hong Kong Conference. Aaron Stern of Converium Capital looks for investment opportunities during times of distress within companies, asset classes, or geographies. He focuses on identifying mispriced securities based on specific events, setting up an investment opportunity with limited downside and asymmetric upside potential.
Wendy Chen of Sigmoid Capital described their strategy as a pan-Asia long/short equity strategy, focusing on mid-sized Asian companies with market inefficiencies. By organizing their team around major industry themes and supply chains, Sigmoid aims to form differentiated views on market inflections. The fund’s unique approach involves thinking differently from the market consensus to generate above-market returns over the long term.
Seth Fischer of Oasis Management takes a direct approach to investing, engaging with companies to improve their operations and governance. Fischer targets undervalued companies with unrealized potential, focusing on long-term sustainable value creation for all stakeholders. He emphasized the importance of being a meaningful partner to companies, helping them grow and succeed through operational improvements.
Chen highlighted China’s manufacturing overcapacity and the need for downsizing in the coming years. China’s investment-driven growth model has led to concerns about global consumption capacity and trade imbalances. Chen pointed out that China’s manufacturing capacity may need to decrease, impacting loan growth, consumption power, and the global supply chain. Fischer focused on Japan, where corporate governance improvements are unlocking latent potential in Japanese companies. He noted improvements in board composition and shareholder accountability in Japan.
While opportunities in Asia were discussed by Chen and Fischer, Stern is also looking at Latin America and continental Europe for investment opportunities. Stern highlighted opportunities in distressed credit in these regions, focusing on companies with under $1 billion in debt and near-term overhangs. He plans to present a distressed opportunity in Latin America at this year’s conference, following previous successful investments in the region.
