Acacia Capital Management Mentioned in Hedge Fund Alert
The following is the contents of an article in "Hedge Fund Alert" March 2nd 2011
China Manager Pitches US Vehicle
"Acacia Capital just kicked off a marketing campaign for a U.S. version of a China-focused hedge fund that gained 66% last year.
The firm's research team, working in Beijing, began trading the U.S.-domiciled Acacia Global Fund in January. Acacia founder and portfolio manager Ryan Weidenmiller launched the offshore Acacia Master Fund in November 2009, but he began trading the long/short equity strategy with his own money in December 2008.
The results have been impressive so far, including a 5.6% gain the first month and a 2009 return of 30%. The strategy was up another 3% in January.
Acacia's in-house marketing staff is pitching the domestic vehicle initially to investors in the U.S., Eu- rope, Singapore and China. The firm employs marketing and investor-relations professionals in the U.S.
Weidenmiller takes a bottom-up approach to investing in companies around the globe that have ties to China - and thus are poised to benefit from the country’s economic growth. He developed his expertise managing China-related venture capital and private equity investments for Susquehanna International from 2004 to 2008. He also ran a long/ short equity hedge fund for the Bala Cynwyd, Pa., firm, which has $7 billion under management.
At this point, investors view Weidenmiller as an experienced China hand. "He's been there for eight years," one market player said. "He's not a rookie and he's been doing China since before it went vogue." In a January letter to investors, Weidenmiller noted that he was visiting business associates in Cairo when Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down last month amid growing opposition. "We have been asked many times about Egypt and the potential to see the same in China," he wrote. During his seven years in China, Weidenmiller said he's never heard the kind of hatred of government that is now being expressed toward some regimes in the Middle East."