Pulse Capital Partners, LLC , which identifies and partners with next generation hedge fund managers to institutionalize and accelerate their growth, announced a partnership with Hong Kong-based asset manager Ardon Capital Management Ltd. to launch an Asia-focused event-driven fund. The new fund will be called the Pulse-Ardon Asia Fund and is anticipated to launch in July 2011.

Ardon was founded in 2010 by Frank Dominick and Charles Woo, experienced Asia investors who have a combined 28 years of experience investing in the region. The two have worked together for eight years, most recently at a multi-billion dollar hedge fund employing a similar investment strategy. Pulse-Ardon will invest primarily in Hong Kong/China, Korea, and Japan as well as Taiwan, Singapore Australia and more opportunistically across the region. It will be launched as a commingled managed account fund and will be managed on a low-beta basis with extensive risk management and monitoring at every level.

"Pulse-Ardon sees tremendous alpha-generating opportunities in Asian markets," said Dominick. "We have identified six countries whose markets are liquid and offer greater alpha potential than other global markets due to structural inefficiencies. The fund's investment strategy will focus on liquid instruments and will isolate situational alpha by actively hedging the equity market exposure of its positions."

"The Asian market is very relationship driven and the extensive network that we have cultivated over nearly three decades of on-the-ground investing across Asia affords Ardon a unique competitive advantage," said Woo. "We have worked and lived in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore and Seoul since 1995 and have developed the ability to directly source deal opportunities, something we believe is critical to successful investing in Asian events."

"Institutional investors around the world are allocating more capital to Asian opportunities," said Pulse Managing Partner Ibrahim Gharghour. "Pulse-Ardon will offer investors access to an experienced team deploying a pure alpha strategy focused on the pan-Asia region."

Pulse-Ardon has created comprehensive investment guidelines that will help contain drawdown risk by establishing position limits, exposure limits and liquidity parameters as well as mandating a hard-wired stop-loss discipline - protections put in place in response to investor demands for greater discipline after the market turmoil of 2008.

"With the combination of Pulse's investment expertise, risk management experience, and global marketing reach paired with Ardon's Asian expertise, we have a great story to tell our global audience," said Pulse Managing Partner Gary S. Long. "By operating as a commingled managed account fund, Pulse-Ardon will give investors the enhanced levels of risk monitoring and transparency they require in today's investment environment."

Ardon's managing partners have originated and executed more than $3 billion in Asian corporate transactions and have deep experience investing in Asia across different markets, sectors, trade types and financial instruments. Dominick and Woo will lead an experienced five-person team based in the firm's Hong Kong headquarters.