GAO Capital and Straits Financial Group are set to collaborate on GAO Funds, a funding platform expected to launch on September 1, 2015.

A core strategy of the platform will be structured trade and commodity finance, which investors will be given the option to invest in.

“We see the opportunity in trade finance with the retreat of the banks in the space, partly from Basel regulation forcing banks to hold more capital against trade finance loans,” says Chauwei Yak, GAO chief executive officer, adding: “Straits’ parentage in logistics and warehousing, coupled with their in-depth understanding of the commodities market, both physical and derivatives, would put us in a unique position to partake in structured trade transactions and seize relative value investing opportunities in the market.”

Jeremy Ang, chief executive officer at Straits, comments: “We will be able to bring Straits to new (and) greater heights with the access and support of GAO’s global fund platform and the combined asset management expertise of the combined GAO and Straits teams across the trade finance and commodities markets.”