Aristagora Advisors was introduced by Bloomberg.
2012-02-09
Ex-BNP Banker Seeks Expansion With Aristagora Alternative Funds
Bloomberg 2012-02-09
Aristagora Advisors Co. plans to offer tailor-made funds that invest in derivatives to Japanese investors including pensions, endowments and companies in the first half of 2012 to meet growing demand.
The Tokyo-based firm is planning to capture about five clients in two to three years, said Chief Executive Officer Takeshi Shinoda, a former head of Japanese equity and equity derivatives business at BNP Paribas SA. The firm will target investors with several tens of billions of yen, he said, declining to elaborate.
Aristagora joins boutique firms including StormHarbour Partners that are seeking to tap growing demand from Japanese institutional investors and companies, which face the world’s lowest bond yields and slumping stocks.
“It’s difficult for bigger firms to justify the costs associated with making tailor-made funds, so that’s where boutique-type firms like ours can find opportunities,” Shinoda, 50, said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday.
Aristagora is also planning to start offering semi-tailored funds for smaller investors with assets from 300 million yen ($3.9 million) to 500 million yen, Shinoda said.
Michimasa Naka, a former Citigroup Inc. deputy president, joined StormHarbour in 2010 to head the brokerage’s Japan unit. Like Aristagora, the company is trying to compete with global rivals by offering products including fixed-income securities, stocks and alternative assets such as private equity and property funds to Japanese investors.
By Komaki Ito and Tomoko Yamazaki