Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Anthony Correa, who started Polygon Investment Partners LLP’s Asian office, plans to open a Hong Kong-based hedge fund to invest in Asian mergers and rights offers, people familiar with the situation said.

Correa wants to raise as much as $250 million and is meeting with U.S. and European investors this month, the people said. The fund will be named Black’s Link, for a hiking and running trail linking two mountain passes in Hong Kong, the people said.

Polygon, based in London, said a year ago that it would wind down its $4 billion Polygon Global Opportunities Fund, which plunged 48 percent in 2008. Correa was in charge of Asia Pacific investments for Polygon and opened an office in Hong Kong that’s since been shuttered, the people said.

“It’s doable, but they ought to be prepared for tough questions,” said Jerome Lussan, founder of Laven Partners, a hedge-fund consultant. “Any allocator will have to explain issues regarding where he used to be, even if what happened there hadn’t been the guy’s fault.”

Correa’s venture is not connected to Polygon’s efforts to start new funds, including a European equity and convertible bond fund, the people said. Correa declined to comment.

Polygon expects it will take until the end of 2011 to wind down its Global Opportunities Fund, which had a long market value of about $1.9 billion at the end of September, according to an investor letter dated Oct. 20 and seen by Bloomberg News.

Event-Driven Strategies

Correa follows others opening event-driven funds in Asia. Nick Taylor, former head of Citadel Investment Group LLC’s principal investments in Asia and Europe, was working in June to start an Asia event-driven fund after his former employer retreated from the region.

Investors gravitated toward event-driven strategies, in which managers try to profit from mergers, spinoffs and other corporate events, in the third quarter, according to a survey of 1,000 hedge fund-investors by Marlborough, Massachusetts-based Brighton House Associates LLC.

Hedge-fund assets increased by about $34 billion in September to $1.43 trillion, a fifth straight monthly gain, research firm Eurekahedge Pte said yesterday on its Web site.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Cahill in London at tcahill@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 22, 2009 20:49 EDT