The Asia head of a $1.6 billion hedge fund is setting up a new shop with the backing of his boss

Keita Arisawa, who oversaw TPG-Axon Capital Management's Hong Kong office, is in the early stages of setting up a new hedge fund with the backing of his boss.

The launch comes after TPG-Axon Capital - a one-time $13 billion hedge fund firm - announced it is scaling back and closing the Hong Kong office.

"I think Keita is very talented, and I'm enthusiastically supporting/backing his fund launch," Dinakar Singh, founder of TPG-Axon Capital, said in an email to Business Insider. "Keita and the Asia team are very talented, and had very solid performance, so I think they will be very successful."

In 2014, TPG-Axon brought Arisawa over from its Tokyo office to Hong Kong to lead the firm's entire Asia business, according to a Bloomberg article at the time. Arisawa declined to comment for this story, saying that he was restricted from doing so because he is still employed at the firm.

TPG-Axon has recently consolidated its offices, announcing earlier this year that it would shut down its 10-person Hong Kong office and end its presence in Tokyo, and focus on its offices in New York.

TPG-Axon managed approximately $1.6 billion in assets at mid-year, which is down from $2.4 billion in July 2015 and about $13 billion in early 2008, Reuters reported.

TPG-Axon Capital is separate from TPG Capital, the private equity firm. Both firms have small passive ownership stakes in the other.