US Hedge Fund Verdad Plans to Launch New Japan Small-Cap Fund

Boston-based hedge fund Verdad Advisers LP is planning to launch a new Japanese equity fund focusing on small-cap companies, another sign that global investors are looking beyond blue chips to unlock extra returns from the nation’s reawakened stock market.

The fund, which may launch as early as this year, will continue the strategy of the investment company’s existing two micro-cap funds by looking for capital inefficiencies like debt-heavy or cash-heavy balance sheets, Verdad founder Daniel Rasmussen said in an interview on Sept. 17. The new fund will target larger market caps of more than $400 million, he said.