This new role has been created to drive overseas asset gathering and make Cheetah's existing and future Asia centric funds available to a greater number of international institutions. The initial geographical focus will be the US and Europe. Cheetah has traditionally raised the majority of its funds from Asia. As of 1 January 2014, Cheetah and its affiliates managed just under USD1 billion.
Commenting on Cheetah's internationalisation and on Brian MacDougall's appointment, MD and founder Raymond Wong said: "It is our ambition to double our assets under management over the next few years, and international development is integral to this. With two decades of Asian experience and an in depth knowledge of global institutions, Brian will be instrumental in helping us achieve this goal. Over the last couple of years we have seen increasing interest from overseas institutions, and we anticipate significant asset growth from international investors going forward."
Brian MacDougall commented on his own appointment: "I am very excited to join Cheetah. Raymond and his team have an exceptionally long and successful track record in value investing in Asia. Cheetah's core value funds have consistently outperformed the market over the past decade and I fully subscribe to their investment philosophy. My previous firm, a fund of funds, was invested in some of Cheetah's funds as early as 2006. I now look forward to expanding Cheetah's investor base overseas."
V-Nee Yeh, Chairman of Cheetah, said: "I strongly believe that our fundamental-driven value-oriented approach to investment is the best way to deliver absolute return in Asia. This strategy has proved successful over the past ten years irrespective of the economic cycle. The universe of under researched and undervalued companies in Asia is large and we continue to see many investment opportunities in the value space."
Brian MacDougall was previously executive director of Swiss private bank Syz & Co ("Syz") following Syz's acquisition of Oria Capital, a fund of hedge fund business he had co-founded in 2004, where he led the firm's business development strategy, building the company brand and client base, raising funds and marketing products to investors. From 2001 to 2004, he held the same function at another fund of fund business where he managed all business development activities.
