LIM Advisors founder George Long: ‘We’ve been here 30 years. We’re going to be around’

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George Long does not talk like a man selling vision. The founder, chairman and chief investment officer of LIM Advisors is understated and unshowy. After three decades running an independent firm in Hong Kong, what comes through is a temperament suited to difficult Asian markets: calm, pragmatic and focused on protecting capital when conditions turn.

How the business began

Long left Barclays’ Asia Pacific asset management business in late 1995 to set up LIM Advisors, one of the longest continually running alternative investment firms in Asia. The Hang Seng had fallen 31 per cent in 1994, and clients wanted a less volatile way to manage money. “A lot of my investors said, can you create a more stable way, a more diversified way, not so much dependent on the stock market.”

Convertible bonds were his answer. LIM rolled out its first fund in January 1996 focused mainly on Asian convertibles. A year later the Asian financial crisis hit. Long recalls the Hang Seng falling about 25 per cent over two years, yet “we were up about 12 per cent.” “It was really tough because no one wanted to invest in Asia at that time even though the market was extremely cheap.”

Doors closed to capital raising

The SARS pandemic in 2003 arrived before the region had fully recovered. The Hong Kong market fell nearly 18 per cent and travel almost stopped. LIM later lived through the Japanese banking crisis around 1999, the 2008 global financial crisis, Covid and the latest Iran war shock.

His father did not invest at the start but after about 15 years he did. “When I set up my business, my father didn’t give me money. After 15 years he said, okay, I’ll now give you money, because you’ve proved you can survive.” “Now we’re 30 years old. We proved we can survive.”

Shareholder rights brought Japan back

Japan is an important part of the firm’s focus. Long has covered the country for four decades. LIM has maintained a research team in Tokyo since 2002. He says it “may be the second oldest hedge fund office in Japan”. Foreign interest was thin for years and has only revived over the past three years.

The Japan focus has changed with the market. It began with convertibles, merger arbitrage, buybacks and high-yield bonds. For the past eight or nine years the focus has been equity activism and events. Cross-shareholdings and sleepy boards left many names cheap. Over the past decade the government and the Tokyo Stock Exchange have pressed firms on capital efficiency, free float and valuations, especially those below book. Buybacks, higher dividends, asset sales, the unwinding of cross-holdings and take-privates followed. M&A reforms gave holders such as LIM a lever when a cheap bid arrived. The Japan Event Fund buys such stocks and engages with management.

LIM Japan Event Fund has earned industry recognition, winning the Event Driven Fund Award at the APAC Hedge Fund Performance Awards in 2024 and 2026 as well as this year’s prestigious award for Longer Term (5 Years) in Equity Strategies.Precious metals, China and the first fund

Precious metals and mining stocks are a major bet. Long thinks they gain from persistent inflation and a weaker dollar reserve role. The portfolio also holds copper miners. He sat on Australian mining boards in the early 2000s.

He also thinks Hong Kong can become a serious gold trading centre, given storage, no capital controls and the old bullion market. The latest Policy Address sets out a gold clearing system, tax concessions for commodity trading and a larger official role for bullion.

China is another large bet. “The Chinese stock market is relatively inexpensive compared to, say, the US stock market. China went through a major correction and has only partially recovered. They’re still relatively good value.” Chinese convertibles remain “an interesting niche opportunity.” He also holds Hong Kong property and financial names.

The first fund has evolved over three decades. Convertible-bond and other Asian arbitrage, then high-yield, largely dried up. As those trades thinned out, the portfolio was steered towards corporate events, metals and China. The fund has since been renamed the LIM Global Opportunities Fund. “It’s a broader fund now and can invest in any liquid asset anywhere based on my 40 years of experience.”

Asian money, Hong Kong base

Fifteen years ago capital came more from Western institutional investors. International investors, especially Americans, lost some interest in Asia. More of the money now comes from Asian family offices, foundations and funds of funds.

He will not give up Hong Kong. The city, he says, is still a major international financial centre, with a good legal system, infrastructure and talent. “But sometimes the government can take a while to change things such as the taxation of funds, but they generally move in the right direction.” Tokyo is the only other Asian office. There is a small New York office.

Inflation and dearer money

Looking out five or ten years, he sees a rougher climate. “Interest rates are going up; inflation is in the system.” He started at a major New York bank in 1982, when US rates were high. “Most people who are even in their 50s have never seen high inflation and interest rates. I’ve seen that. I also saw a lot of commodity inflation early in my career.”

Playing the Long game

No asset class, he says, is perfectly safe. The dollar is no longer as dominant as it was. Gold should hold its value, even if it fluctuates, as it did recently. Japan will still matter, and so will China.

“We’ve been here for 30 years,” he says. “We’re going to be around.”