Mystery of Malaysian 1MDB's US$2.3b Cayman Islands fund

[SINGAPORE] Some US$2.3 billion ($2.9 billion) belonging to Malaysia's state-owned fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), ploughed into unidentified Cayman Islands funds, is being managed by little-known Hong Kong firm Bridge Partners, The Business Times has learnt.

The revelation comes at a time when 1MDB is under fire for placing funds in hedge funds abroad, particularly since almost all of its assets - power generation and landbank - are based in Malaysia.

The said funds were invested by Malaysia's state-backed fund through Brazen Sky Ltd - a wholly owned unit incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) - in a segregated portfolio company (SPC) called Bridge Global Absolute Return Fund managed by Bridge Partners, according to documents obtained by this newspaper.