Hedge funds in Mainland China have Hillhouse Capital Management to thank for opening the country to the industry. Hillhouse, in more ways than one, has Yale University to thank for its ability to do so. President, CIO and founder Zhang Lei met David Swensen, Yale’s renowned CIO credited with redefining the endowment investing model, while earning his MBA from the Yale School of Management (SOM) in the early 2000s. The duo hit it off, and before long Zhang was working for the Yale Investments Office while still a student. He founded Beijing-based Hillhouse, named after Hillhouse Avenue where Yale SOM presides in New Haven, Connecticut, in 2005 with $30 million in seed money from Yale’s endowment. Zhang returned the favor in 2010, when...
