I want to take a quiet moment — away from press releases and formal announcements — to reflect on what these past four years have meant to me, to our team, and to everyone who placed their trust in what we were building.

I did not start Siegfried to win awards. I started it because I believed, genuinely and stubbornly, that supply chain finance was one of the most misunderstood and underserved opportunities in Asian institutional investing. I still believe that. The awards that have come along the way are not proof that the journey is complete — they are, if anything, proof that the direction was right.

A record I am proud of

Since 2022, our funds have been recognised six times across HFM and Bloomberg Businessweek — from our first win as a specialist credit fund at the Shangri-La in Singapore, to three simultaneous Bloomberg awards at the Conrad in Hong Kong earlier this year. Each one landed differently. The first felt like validation after years of quiet conviction. The most recent three felt like a different kind of responsibility — a reminder that more people are watching, and that more people are counting on us to keep doing what we do, without cutting corners.

November 2022 · Shangri-La Singapore

HFM Asian Performance Awards · With Intelligence

Best Performing Hedge Fund — Specialist Finance & Credit

February 2023 · Conrad Hong Kong

Bloomberg Businessweek Hedge Funds 2022

• Best Performer — Best Emerging Hedge Fund

March 2025 · Conrad Hong Kong

Bloomberg Businessweek Hedge Funds 2024

• Best Performer — Hedge Fund over USD 500 Million

bbwhkevent.com/hf2024

2026 · Conrad Hong Kong

Bloomberg Businessweek Hedge Funds 2025

• Best Hedge Fund over USD 500 Million

• Best Fixed Income Hedge Fund

• Best Credit Hedge Fund

bbwhkevent.com/hf2025

What I think about when I see these trophies

I think about the team members who stayed late, who stress-tested structures that most people would not bother questioning, who cared about getting it right more than getting it done. I think about investors who trusted us before we had a track record worth speaking of, and who gave us the runway to build one properly. I think about partners and service providers who believed in the vision when it was still mostly a whiteboard.

And honestly — I think about how much further we have to go. Because awards, for all the warmth they bring, are a mirror facing backwards. They tell you what you did. They say nothing about what you have yet to do.

Awards are a mirror facing backwards. They tell you what you did. They say nothing about what you have yet to do.

A note of honest perspective

This is a waypoint, not an arrival.

I say this not out of false modesty. I say it because I genuinely believe we are still in the early chapters. The supply chain finance market across Greater China and Southeast Asia is vast, structurally underserved, and still largely misread by mainstream institutional capital. What we have built so far — the credit framework, the origination relationships, the investor base, the USD 3.14 billion in AUM — is a foundation. A strong one, I hope. But a foundation is only as meaningful as what you build on top of it.

There are obligors we have not yet reached. There are SME suppliers who are still paying far too much for working capital because institutional investors like us have not shown up for them yet. There is a much larger role for this asset class to play in the region's real economy — and I intend to be part of making that happen.

So I accept these six awards with real gratitude, and with equal parts humility. They mean a great deal to me personally. But they do not change what I sit down to do every morning. The road ahead is long, and I would not have it any other way.