Hedge Funds
China quant fund Lingjun draws at least $300m from overseas investors after two-year freeze
The Beijing manager's Hong Kong arm is in advanced talks for a further $150m from a Southeast Asian sovereign wealth fund, two years after an exchange trading ban.
HedgeWeekly Hedge Fund Desk ·
Lingjun Investment, the Beijing-based quantitative manager, has lined up at least $300m from foreign investors through its Hong Kong unit Lingjun Capital, founder and chairwoman Cai Meijie told Reuters on October 22. The commitments come from a US institutional investor and several Southeast Asian clients.
The firm is also in advanced discussions over a $150m allocation from a Southeast Asian sovereign wealth fund and is marketing its strategies to investors in the Middle East. Lingjun restarted onshore fundraising in March after a two-year pause and has only recently reopened to overseas money.
Lingjun managed around 100bn yuan at its peak but assets fell to roughly 50bn yuan after the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges barred it from trading for three days in early 2024 over rule breaches. Cai said the firm has since doubled its risk team, built risk checks into its trading systems and set up a five-member investment committee. Its flagship equity fund returned more than 70% last year and over 10% in the first nine months of 2026, per Simuwang.com, against an 18% rise and then a 6% fall for the CSI 300.
Why it matters: the raise suggests global allocators, including Asian sovereign capital, are again willing to back Chinese quant managers despite past regulatory shocks, with Cai crediting DeepSeek's success for a fresh look at AI-driven investing in China. Allocators weighing such managers will focus on governance reforms as much as headline returns.