Hillhouse Capital is one of the world’s largest investment funds that most people have never heard of because its founder Zhang Lei sits in Beijing, writes Henny Sender.

The fund is not strictly a local fund – its investors are offshore and they give Mr Zhang dollars, not renminbi. But he is part of a growing movement of mainlanders who have studied and trained in the west but returned to China to run alternative funds. By putting their offices in Beijing, these managers have an edge both in terms of information and relationships.

Since he established Hillhouse in 2005 with $30m from the Yale endowment, Mr Zhang and Hillhouse have come a long way. He graduated from People’s University in Beijing before going to Yale School of Management, where he met David Swensen, head of the Yale endowment.