LMR Partners, a $9.8 billion hedge fund, is opening an office in Dubai, expanding into a country that has become the single biggest destination for expatriate millionaires.
The London-based firm secured a license from Dubai International Financial Centre and will start with six people, according to a person familiar with the matter. LMR is taking space in the ICD Brookfield Place and its office has room for between 25 and 30 people, the person said, asking not to be identified because the details are private.
Half of its employees in Dubai are new hires, while the rest -- including portfolio managers Iain Raskin and Sebastian Gorga who were based in Hong Kong -- are relocating from other offices, the person said. The emirate is seen as a more convenient time zone for some of its portfolio managers who trade globally, the person said. LMR, whose traders invest in various strategies and asset classes including equities and fixed income, joins Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management and Michael Gelband’s ExodusPoint Capital Management in expanding into Dubai. The emirate is emerging as a favored destination for global financiers who are drawn by its ease of doing business, tax-free status and its allure as a global travel hub. It is also a more friendly time zone for portfolio managers who have global investments spanning North America to Asia.
Other prominent funds such as Brevan Howard and Squarepoint Capital LLP have also recently obtained licenses to operate in Dubai, according to the finance center’s public register.
“More hedge fund managers are opting to relocate to Dubai, given the emirate’s good infrastructure, low taxes, and light regulation,” said Dominic Volek, the Dubai-based head of private clients at consultancy Henley & Partners, which expects the UAE to attract a net inflow of 4,000 millionaires this year, the most of any country globally.
