New York and Washington, D.C.-based Hudson Fairfax Group, whose advisory board includes former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Harvey Pitt, has revamped with a new set of high-profile Indian nationals and international stars. Its long/short Indian fund, HFG India Continuum Fund, is slated to launch in July. The firm is led by Armeane Choksi, formerly v.p. of the World Bank, and Manish Thakur, a former investment banker at Merrill Lynch and SG Cowen. The fund will take both long and short positions in Indian equities and will be managed by a portfolio advisor in Mumbai. To get short exposure, the fund will need to utilize the futures market and put options, as India does not permit direct short sales, explained Barry Hines co-founder of Boomerang Capital, which was retained to market the fund. Additionally, there are a handful of Indian ADRs the fund can short, he added.

This marks the second attempt for the firm to roll out the fund. Initially Hudson Fairfax was partnering with Balestra Capital Management, a hedge fund firm in New York (iialternatives.com, 8/5). The fund has been delayed because it took longer than expected to find the right portfolio advisor on the ground in India, said Hines. Ravi Gopalakrishnan will serve in that capacity now, sourcing portfolio ideas for the fund, with the final execution made in the U.S. per regulatory requirements, said Hines. Hudson Fairfax and Balestra also decided to part ways, and Boomerang was subsequently tapped to market the fund. James Melcher, founder of Balestra, declined to comment.

Hines noted that he has just started talking to investors; it is too early to have an idea of the assets at launch. The initial target audience will be family offices and private clients, including some non-hedge fund investors wanting Indian exposure.

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Harvey Pitt
Hudson Fairfax is also the primary sponsor of the U.S.-India Institute; Choksi and Thakur are scheduled to be at the White House this week. Also part of the venture is Domingo Cavallo, formerly an Argentine cabinet minister. Besides Pitt, the fund's advisory board boasts such luminaries as Surendra Dave, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, Shankar Acharya, former chief economic advisor to the Indian government, and Satya Pal Talwar, former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India.