Morant Wright Investment Management, a Japanese equity fund management boutique, has formed a joint venture with RAB Capital to launch its first hedge fund.

Stephen Morant and Ian Wright, both founders of Morant Wright, will run the hedge fund with Richard Phillips. The team has been running the MW Japan Fund, a long-only fund, for almost three years. Since launch, the fund has outperformed the TOPIX, the Japanese equity index, by more than 30%.