Each business day HedgeCo.Net keeps you informed with the top hedge fund industry news, opinion and insight from around the globe. From the latest hedge fund launches, to the impact of regulation, competition, and investor activism - we track the topics and people that make a difference to you.
Forbes – Almost 20 percent of Asia’s hedge funds closed shop since the start of 2008 as a wave of investor redemptions and sharp losses amid the financial crisis took a heavy toll on the region’s once high-flying industry, a new survey said Monday.
At least 129 funds were shuttered in 2008 and 17 more in the first quarter of 2009, a study by London-based AsiaHedge magazine said.
Bloomberg – Octagon Capital Management Pte, run by former managers of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp.’s quantitative-investment group, plans to start a fund that seeks to profit from broad economic trends.
Octagon, which uses computer models to pick trades, will raise money “in the near future” for a quantitative macro fund that wagers on currencies, equities, interest rates and commodities in Asia, said Lam Poh Min, 39, co-founder of the Singapore-based hedge-fund firm, in an interview. The firm is looking for a “more opportune time” to start the fund, Lam said yesterday.
Reuters – China Zhongwang Holdings, Asia’s biggest maker of aluminium extrusion products, began marketing on Monday for a Hong Kong IPO to raise as much as $1.58 billion in what would be the world’s largest new listing so far this year.
The company, which generates a large share of its business from the transport sector, including railways, is a beneficiary of Beijing’s 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) economic stimulus package, a big chunk of which is being spent on infrastructure.
Times Online – John Ho, the head of The Children’s Investment Fund’s (TCI) operations in Asia, is poised to resign over what sources describe as a “clash of minds” with Chris Hohn, its notoriously abrasive founder.
The same sources said that the two had fallen out over investment strategy and changes in the way the £6.5 billion fund is run. The hedge fund invests on behalf of a charitable foundation run by Mr Hohn’s wife.
The alleged disagreement follows a year of terrible investment losses during which Mr Hohn’s master fund is understood to have shed more than 40 per cent of its value. The fund has also lost several key figures in quick succession and its appetite for shareholder activism appears to be dwindling with the recent sale of most of its stake in Deutsche Börse.
Reuters – India Church Pension Fund has invested in Future Group backed Indivision India, Advantage Partners and IDG Accel China.
The $8 billion Church Pension Fund based in New York City has roped in Eric Mason(ex-Carlyle Group), to open a new Hong Kong office, its first in Asia, reports Dow Jones.
Mason is a former JP Morgan banker and most recently headed Carlyle Group’s Asian leveraged finance team(set-up in 2007 but disbanded in November 2008 after the credit crunch hampered its ability to raise funds). He will look after all asset classes including private equity, real estate and hedge fund investments in the continent, the report said.
Reuters – The number of Asian hedge funds could increase by 10 percent this year as more unemployed bankers and traders launch new funds and the cost of doing business slumps, an industry expert said on Monday.
"It’s much better to be a small hedge fund manager than an unemployed investment banker," Peter Douglas, founder of hedge fund consultancy GFIA told the Reuters Private Equity and Hedge Funds Summit in Singapore.
"We are beginning to see quite a strong wave of managers’ formation, which is entirely consistent with what we saw after the Asian crisis."
He said these bankers could add to around 700 hedge funds already based in Asia, as battered global banks shed staff who have strong relationships with potential investors, cash from bonuses, and friends to start off small funds.
Reuters – Artradis Fund Management, Singapore’s largest hedge fund manager, said on Monday it has hired David Dredge from Royal Bank of Scotland as managing director for portfolio management.
Dredge was deputy global head of local markets at RBS as well as its head of local markets trading and risk management in Asia. He is also deputy chairman of the Singapore Foreign Exchange Market Committee.
Artradis said in a statement it saw opportunities in foreign exchange and interest rates, and has re-opened two of its funds to take in fresh money from investors.
HedgeCo.net – Artradis Fund Management, Singapore’s largest hedge fund manager, said on Monday it has hired David Dredge from Royal Bank of Scotland as managing director for portfolio management.
Dredge was deputy global head of local markets at RBS as well as its head of local markets trading and risk management in Asia. He is also deputy chairman of the Singapore Foreign Exchange Market Committee.
Artradis said in a statement it saw opportunities in foreign exchange and interest rates, and has re-opened two of its funds to take in fresh money from investors.
Business24-7 – Middle East hedge fund investors expect emerging markets, the US and Asia (excluding Japan) will outperform in 2009 despite economic downturn, according to a survey conducted across the Mena region.
The survey, conducted by an investment placement specialist Capintro Partners, said the family offices are allocating a larger percentage of their portfolio to hedge funds than to other institutions. It said investors in the region prefer funds with larger asset sizes, longer track records and higher levels of liquidity.
Times Online – RAB Capital has agreed to sell Northwest, its loss-making Asia-focused investment business, back to its founding principals for only £1 million in the latest sign of retrenchment by the AIM-listed London hedge fund manager.
RAB, which originally paid more than £20 million for the business, said today that it would sell Northwest’s three funds to George Philips and David Rogers, who set up the business in 1998.
Mr Philips and Mr Rogers will take assets of about $300 million and a team of about 12 people with them. Northwest generated pre-tax profits of about £9 million in 2007 but is expected to be loss-making for last year.
Bloomberg – Artradis Fund Management Pte., whose volatility funds posted the best returns among Asian hedge funds last year, is betting continued market swings will help them outperform again in 2009.
While volatility will decline to “more normal levels” from the records set in 2008, the funds will continue “to be able to take advantage of significant moves in markets,” said Julian Ings-Chambers, a managing director at Artradis, Singapore’s biggest hedge-fund firm.
The $2.4 billion Artradis AB2 Fund, managed by Stephen Diggle and Richard Magides, rose 35 percent last year, according to the firm. The $1.8 billion Artradis Barracuda Fund, which uses less borrowed money than the AB2, added 27 percent. The funds, which place wagers on price swings, had the highest returns among Asia-focused hedge funds that manage at least $500 million, according to Eurekahedge Pte., a Singapore-based data provider.
Reuters – Asia-focused funds suffered their worst ever year in 2008, underperforming their peers in the West, as markets cratered and investors demanded their money back.
This year will be marked by consolidation around more established players and a more conservative approach to using debt to drive investment returns. Investors will also insist on greater transparency and closer attention from fund managers.
