Izzy Englander's US hedge fund firm Millennium Management is set to be the first overseas fund to enter South Korea, following the local regulator's recent decision to fire the starting gun on the country's fledgling alternative investment market.

Millennium Partners, the firm's roughly $13bn flagship fund, plans to set up a local affiliate and seek regulatory approval as early as this month in a bid to operate the hedge fund in South Korea, according to the Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's largest news agency.