Hong Kong-based asset manager STI Financial Group (STI), which provides bespoke capital solutions that focus primarily on fragmented middle-market companies in Asia, has acquired a 35 per cent stake in Global Movers Inc (GM), holding company of Asia Management Fund (AMF).

The firm declined to disclose the financial terms of the transaction but the deal has further mechanisms that enable STI to increase its stake in the company at a future point.

Described as a “market maker in SGX-listed equities” by STI Financial Group, AMF specializes in spread trading and liquidity provider strategies on high quality, liquid blue chip counters.

The deal will see Cyrus Wen Jun-Ming, a partner at STI Financial Group, join the management board of GM.

AMF’s proprietary trading system, Mosaic System (MS), is developed by its original founders, Luigi Granucci, Gianluigi Rossetti, Matteo Tamagno and Marco della Pedrina, through their past experiences in various global markets.

“Over the years, Global Movers has built a unique proprietary trading approach, which can be adapted to multiple asset classes and markets where the regulatory environment and exchange conditions are favourable. Along with the further enhancement of our trading system, we are positioned for and in the process of expansion in Singapore and the rest of Asia Pacific,” said Luigi in an email exchange with DEALSTREETASIA.

The company plans on further automating its trading system to cover more securities and markets, and simultaneously enhance its risk management capabilities with active involvement from STI, which will contribute its own quantitative research and trading experience. It will develop a trading algorithm which will allow it to increase coverage of securities traded and trade consistently from applying a rules-based, fully automated system.

According to the firm, they continuously refine the system and deliver consistent alpha with a Sortino ratio of 8.96x with not having a single month of losses since 2011. As of 2016, AMF claims that its trading activities account for approximately 6 per cent of the total value traded on SGX.