Avendus Capital Public Markets Alternate Strategies, the alternate asset management arm of Avendus Capital, is pleased to announce the appointments of Rishi Kohli and his three-member team. Rishi has joined as Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer – Quant Strategies. He, along with his team members, will be responsible for the integration of quant, alpha creation, risk management, and portfolio construction within the long short strategies. 

Rishi brings with him 20 years of rich experience in the Indian capital markets. Prior to joining Avendus, Rishi was the CEO and CIO of ProAlpha Capital, the India arm of Monsoon Capital, for more than 13 years where he was responsible for the overall management of the firm’s public equities investment strategies. He started his career as a derivative researcher at ICICI Securities, before joining SSKI Securities where he set up and headed the institutional equity derivatives desk. Among his many professional achievements, Rishi is credited with starting one of the first quantitative hedge fund businesses in India in the quant trading space back in 2007.

Rishi will be joined by his team members from the previous organization ProAlpha Capital – Mehul Patel and Gaurik Shah as Fund Managers and Viral Mehta as Senior Trader. Each team member has 10-20 years of experience of trading in Indian equities and derivatives using a variety of investment strategies. The team has been working together for more than 10 years, pioneering quant strategies in India. Over the years, the team has successfully managed funds that have received international awards and accolades. In 2012, one of the funds managed by the team was awarded the ‘Best New Asia Fund’ by Asian Investor and the ‘Best Asian Managed Futures Fund’ by Eurekahedge. The team also ran a managed futures strategy for Nifty index called SPRINT which was ranked among the Top 10 Global Funds for 2020 by BarclaysHedge.

On the appointment, Rishi Kohli said, “I am very excited to join Avendus with my team that has been focused on pioneering quant strategies in India over the past 12 years. Avendus Alternate Strategies is already one of the largest hedge fund managers in India, and we consider this as a great privilege and opportunity. Our focus will be on creating differentiated strategies with strong risk-adjusted returns for the Indian markets using our quant expertise and extensive experience in the space. I look forward to working closely with this exceptional team and contribute significantly to the future progress of the franchise.”

Welcoming Rishi and his team on board, Andrew Holland, CEO and Vaibhav Sanghavi, Co-CEO, Avendus Capital Public Markets Alternate Strategies, described the hires as an important step towards diversifying product portfolio. They stated, “We are delighted to expand our team. Rishi and the team’s breadth of expertise in capital markets, their outstanding quantitative research techniques, and their long-standing association with each other will further strengthen the firm’s onshore and offshore capabilities amid the growing appetite for long short assets among investors.”

Avendus Capital Public Markets Alternate Strategies is part of the Avendus Group, and manages an AUM of approx. USD 800 million under long short strategies. It is one of the largest hedge fund managers in India and its flagship scheme – Avendus Absolute Returns Fund was awarded the Best India Hedge Fund by EurekaHedge Global Hedge Fund Awards, Singapore and Best Single Country by AsiaHedge Funds, Hongkong, both in 2019. Avendus Alternate Strategies is also a pioneer in ESG investing in India.

About Avendus 

Avendus Group is a leading provider of financial services with an emphasis on customized solutions in the areas of Investment Banking, Wealth Management, Credit Solutions and Asset Management.  Avendus relies on its extensive experience, in-depth domain understanding and knowledge of the regulatory environment, to offer customized solutions that enable clients to meet their strategic aspirations. 

Established in 1999 in Mumbai, India, Avendus Group’s presence in 10 cities across India, US, UK and Singapore brings together global perspectives and equips our inter-country teams with the expertise to handle complex business requirements of ambitious entrepreneurs. For more information, please visit https://www.avendus.com