Fortress Investment Group LLC’s Adam Levinson, co-chief investment officer of global macro funds, will move to Singapore to lead the New York-based buyout and hedge-fund firm’s expansion in Asia.

Fortress will have an investment team of about 10 people in its new office in the city-state, Levinson, 40, said in an Oct. 1 interview from New York. He will start working in Singapore early next year.

The firm, whose stock has dropped 81% since it went public in 2007 before the buyout market froze, plans to start an Asia-focused macro fund in 2011, according to Levinson. Macro funds seek to profit from broad economic trends by trading currencies, bonds, stocks and commodities.

Global managers such as New York-based Soros Fund Management LLC, founded by billionaire George Soros, and London’s Algebris Investments LLP are establishing presences in Asia for the first time or, like Fortress, returning as the region’s economic growth outpaces the rest of the world. Government of Singapore Investment Corp., which oversees more than US$100 billion ($131 billion) of reserves, said Sept. 29 that Asia will contribute half of global economic expansion this year.

“The opening of our Singapore office underscores our long- term commitment to the Asia markets and our pursuit of disciplined strategic growth in the region,” Fortress Chief Executive Officer Daniel Mudd said in the same interview.

Fortress closed its Hong Kong office, which was headed by Stanley Ku, at the end of 2008, as the global financial crisis forced investment firms and banks to cut back Asian operations.