Arrowpoint Hires UBS O’Connor Executive, China Fund Team

(Bloomberg) — Asia pod shop Arrowpoint Investment Partners has hired the regional head and China investing team of UBS Group AG’s former O’Connor hedge fund unit, as it expands assets and staff, said a person familiar with the matter.

John Bradshaw, who ran O’Connor’s regional business for years, is joining Arrowpoint in late September as deputy chief executive officer, said the person, who asked not to be named because the information is private. Tan Jia, who managed the former UBS unit’s China long-short strategy, will start next week with four of his analysts.

UBS agreed to sell the $11 billion O’Connor to Cantor Fitzgerald LP last year, ending three decades of ownership as tightening Swiss regulation over bank capital prompted it to trim riskier businesses. Arrowpoint and regional peer Dymon Asia Capital are seizing the opportunity to pick up seasoned talent, after a renegotiated deal saw Cantor shed much of O’Connor’s presence outside of the US.

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Millennium Management former Asia Co-CEO Jonathan Xiong started Arrowpoint in 2024 with backing from Blackstone Inc., Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and a Temasek Holdings Pte unit.

Singapore-based Bradshaw will help manage a growing business as Arrowpoint’s staff is expected to approach 200 by year-end. He will also oversee some portfolio managers who are on track to become senior ones. Before O’Connor, he had worked on the proprietary trading team of the Swiss bank.

Tan honed his skills at Och-Ziff Capital Management. He led O’Connor’s China team in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, which oversaw a combined $1 billion in a standalone fund, separately managed accounts for institutions and money allocated from the unit’s global multistrategy fund.

UBS O’Connor China Long/Short Alpha Strategies UCITS Fund started in September 2021, trading with so-called low net exposure, the difference between the dollar value of bullish and bearish wagers. It made money in four of its first five years, including 2021 and 2022 when China was in the throes of the Covid pandemic and regulatory tightening over a broad range of industries. A 2.3% loss was recorded for 2023. It was wound down earlier this year.

Tan’s team will initially trade at Arrowpoint. The firm and some of its investors plan to co-sponsor the team’s planned spinout in 2027, the person said.

Arrowpoint currently oversees about $2 billion. Assets are likely to hit $3 billion by year-end, said the person. Nearly 10 new investment teams are slated to join in the remainder of the year, bringing the total tally to 30 by December. Among new hires in recent months include George Lam, a former Millennium relative-value and event-driven senior portfolio manager in Hong Kong.

Dymon earlier added Bernie Ahkong, former chief investment officer of O’Connor’s global multi-strategy alpha business.