Former Goldman executive is raising money for quant hedge fund

Dubai: Ronald Hua, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive who oversaw more than $10 billion (Dh36.7 billion) of assets, is raising money from institutions to make quantitative stock wagers at Qtron Investments.

Hua earlier this year teamed up with Dmitri Kantsyrev at Qtron Investments, which started in 2016 and manages about $120 million. The Boston-based firm offers three global stock strategies — large cap, small cap and all cap. It plans to eventually introduce a long-short quantitative product, Hua said in an interview.

The duo is raising money as more hedge funds and asset managers start quantitative strategies to adapt to a challenging environment for stock pickers. Active managers are trying to find ways to make money and attract clients as investors increasingly shift assets to lower-fee passive strategies, including exchange-traded funds.

Hua and Kantsyrev previously worked together at PanAgora Asset Management, a Boston-based quant-focused firm. In 2011, Hua left PanAgora for Goldman Sachs’ asset management division, where he was a chief investment officer for active equity within the quant group.