Cash-rich Asian conglomerates scour for US fund deals

New York

IN the investment management world these days, the deals are not coming from American or British banks, but from big Asian conglomerates flush with cash.

SoftBank, the Japanese technology and telecommunications conglomerate, scooped up a New York-listed private equity firm this week. HNA Group, the Chinese aviation and shipping conglomerate, took a piece of a New York hedge fund company last month, a week after buying a New Zealand investment company. And HNA has tossed its hat into the ring to acquire a British insurer and its asset management unit.

Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder of SoftBank, wants to create a "Berkshire Hathaway of the tech industry". In January, he met US President Donald Trump, then the president-elect, pledging to invest…