Desmond How has over 29 years of investment experience. At GaoTeng, he won Outstanding Manager (Emerging Markets Fixed Income) by BENCHMARK and Star Manager (Hedge Fund Hong Kong) of the Year by Insights & Mandate in 2021. Recently his flagship Long/Short Credit Strategy was ranked No 1 for Net Returns of top-performing APAC based credit strategy hedge funds in H1 2024 by Preqin. In 2023, the same strategy also won Professional Investment Award in the Global Emerging Market Debt (3-year) category by Insights & Mandate and Best Credit Hedge Fund (3-year) by HKCAMA Bloomberg. It was rated Best in Class (Credit Focus in Alternatives) by BENCHMARK consecutively in 2021 and 2022 for their Fund of the Year Awards. Prior to that, the strategy was awarded Best Credit Hedge Fund by Bloomberg Businessweek and Best Performing Fund in 2020 (Emerging Market Long/Short Fixed Income) by The Hedge Fund Journal in 2021.
Mr How had also won the Most Astute Investors by The Asset for Asian G3 Bonds 16 times from 2006 through to 2023, 8 of which were ranked No 1. Prior to joining GaoTeng, he was Managing Director, Head of Global Capital Management (GCM) at Nomura International (Hong Kong) Limited, a proprietary investment desk that was ranked No 1 Top Investment House Hedge Fund in Asian G3 Bonds by The Asset in 2015 and 2016.
Served as Senior Portfolio Manager for Prudential Investment Fixed Income Emerging Markets Sector team at PGIM, Mr How won the Best Asia Fixed Income Fund (3-Year Risk-Adjusted) from AsianInvestor in 2007.
Mr How is a visionary and a natural leader. He has this special ability to see what’s lacking in the market, mobilising people and resources around him to make an impact. Gembridge is his brainchild where he leads the co-founders into sharing a common vision – offer investment expertise to asset owners and serve as a bridge to a myriad of opportunities in the Global Emerging Markets.
Mr How successfully managed the same thematic alpha strategy across stints at PGIM, Nomura GCM, and GaoTeng, which spanned over two decades, having navigated three asset cycles and thriving in all of them. His returns averaged an impressive 15% per annum. The strategy offers a negative-to-low correlation to market indices and has consistently beat bond indices by a significant margin.