(Bloomberg) — Simon Sadler’s hedge fund is returning capital to investors, marking an abrupt end for the firm after regulators in Hong Kong accused it of insider trading.
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“It is in the best interests of our investors to return their capital in an orderly manner,” a spokesperson for Segantii Capital Management Ltd. said in a statement. “We have always believed at Segantii that it is a great responsibility and privilege to professionally manage money and we have never taken that lightly.”
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission this month charged the firm, one of its traders and Sadler with insider trading tied to a block trade in 2017. “Segantii intends to defend itself vigorously against the charge,” the firm said at the time.
It’s a remarkable turn of events for Sadler, who built his firm into one of the largest in Asia, earning a reputation as the region’s “block-trade king” and sought after by Wall Street banks for generating high trading volume. Global prime brokers with ties to Segantii have been assessing their positions with the 16-year-old firm, Bloomberg previously reported.
Sadler, a former trader at Deutsche Bank AG, founded the firm in Hong Kong in late 2007 with $26.5 million. The firm opened offices in London, New York and Dubai, and produced stellar investment returns from trading globally with a focus on Asia-Pacific equities and equity-linked securities. It had $4.77 billion in assets at the end of April with offices in Hong Kong, London, New York and Dubai.
Read More: Segantii Allegations Roil a Go-To Block Trader for Banks
The Financial Times earlier reported on Segantii’s plans to return money to investors.
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