Rei Ito, a former portfolio manager from Horizon Asset International, is launching a new Singapore-based hedge fund called ZYG Fund that will take long and short positions in Japanese names.

The strategy is launching later this month and is understood to have already attracted around $70m from various allocators. Half of the money is understood to have come from institutions, and the rest from family offices and high net worth individuals.

A source familiar with the launch said the strategy will run short and long positions in 400 Japanese companies, investing broadly across sectors and market caps, and target a net annual return of 10-15%.

ZYG, named after the Greek word for ‘pair’ or ‘union’, has selected Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank as its prime brokers.

Ito previously ran a long/short Japanese equity portfolio at Horizon that peaked just above $300m. Before that he worked for a year as an analyst at Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management.

Besides ZYG, a wave of new Japan-focused hedge funds has successfully launched this year, including Blue Swell by former Point72/SAC Capital trader Toshifumi Oda. The Blue Swell fund launched with at least $200 million in August.

Ex-Horizon Asset PM preps Japan-focused fund on AsiaHedge.