Foreign capital accelerates allocation to China! QRT fund expands tenfold in one year, with a scale exceeding 2 billion USD and a return rate of 98%

The global quantitative hedge fund giant Qube Research & Technologies has seen its China equity fund scale surge more than tenfold over the past year to over $2 billion, becoming the latest testament to foreign capital's return to the Chinese market.

Headquartered in London, QRT manages over $42 billion in assets, with its China long-only equity fund Dao currently exceeding $2 billion in size, a significant increase from about $190 million a year ago. Murray Steel, Chief Operating Officer of QRT Asia Pacific, stated that Dao is currently the only fund among the four managed by the company that remains open to new capital.

Recent surveys by Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas show that investors are accelerating their capital allocation to China funds. Marlin Naidoo, Global Head of Capital Introduction at BNP Paribas, pointed out in an interview that long/short equity strategies and quantitative strategies are the preferred directions for investors in the Chinese market this year.

BNP Paribas's 2026 Hedge Fund Outlook survey indicates that the proportion of surveyed investors planning to increase their capital this year has risen to 14%, up from the actual increase of 9% in 2025. Investor interest in China funds in 2026 is nearing that of North American funds.

Quantitative Strategies Outperform the Market by 57 Percentage Points

Since its trading began in November 2022 until the end of January this year, the Dao fund has achieved a cumulative return of 98%, outperforming the Shanghai and Shenzhen Composite Index by 57 percentage points in USD terms. Steel noted that the fund has outperformed its benchmark index every year, although specific annual data was not provided. The fund utilizes QRT's global quantitative research capabilities to trade A-shares listed in China and is positioned as "a gateway for international investors to enter the Chinese market."

QRT's overall funds generated a return rate of 22% last year, based on asset-weighted calculations. According to Bloomberg News, driven by new capital inflows and investment returns, QRT's asset scale has expanded by approximately 50% over the past 11 months. At the end of last year, the company merged its Torus and Prism funds into a single pool, with the former trading futures strategies and equities, and the latter including macro bets and futures.

QRT is co-led by Pierre-Yves Morlat and Laurent Laizet, both of whom previously worked at Société Générale before moving to Credit Suisse Group. The company became independent through a management buyout in 2018 and has since grown to become one of the largest and fastest-growing institutions in the entire hedge fund industry.

In addition to the Dao fund, the other three funds managed by QRT are traded globally. Currently, Dao is the only fund still accepting new capital, reflecting the company's emphasis on investment opportunities in the Chinese market.

Increasing Commitment to Hong Kong

In December last year, QRT leased up to 146,000 square feet of office space in the International Finance Centre Phase II in Hong Kong to accommodate its growing team in the region. This space will be vacated by UBS Group and is expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2027. While waiting to move in, the company signed a lease for four floors at the Central Plaza earlier last year, expanding its office area in that building by 80% According to a previous report by Bloomberg, QRT currently has approximately 2,000 employees worldwide. One-third of them are located in the Asia-Pacific region, with 5 of the company's 13 offices situated in this area. This staffing configuration highlights the core position of the Asian market, particularly China, in its global strategy